


Lovers Always

by gyllene76



Category: Southern Vampire Mysteries - Charlaine Harris, True Blood
Genre: Drama, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-03
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-02-16 00:42:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 56,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2249520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gyllene76/pseuds/gyllene76
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The sequel to Lover’s Amnesia. Things settle down for our favorite couple, and new relationships are formed, but will that peace last? Read on to find out if what happens in Dallas…stays in Dallas…</p>
<p>AU</p>
<p>Thanks to Meridian who’s my creative consultant on this story!  We have a lot of late night fun coming up with fun ideas for this story!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

# CHAPTER 1 - BETRAYAL

 

It was eerily quiet while we made our way to Dallas as everyone’s thoughts were on the missing vampire we were headed to find. What would normally take three hours took us a little less than two and we may have arrived there more  quickly if Charlie didn’t almost have a heart attack in the back seat due to Eric’s driving.  

I had only been in a car with Eric, Pam, and Charlie and both Eric and Pam drove the same way, like a bat out of hell, according to Charlie, so I was accustomed to it I guess it’s not normal to go quite that fast.

I watched as we entered the new city and I was in awe of how stunning it was with all of its tall, colorful buildings that reflected off the water.

“It’s beautiful,” I uttered as I watched out my window.

“Have you never been before?” Charlie asked, speaking up from the backseat.

I shrugged my shoulders before looking over at Eric. “Have I ever been here before?”  I asked him.

“Yes, a few times in fact.  The last time we were here was last summer,” he replied before he brought our clasped hands up to his mouth and laid feather light kisses along my knuckles.

“I’ve never been so we’ll have to explore the city to find some good places to eat… and shop,” Charlie stated, the last part reluctantly.

“Until Sookie and I have cleared the Tiger, I want the two of you to eat at the restaurants that are in the hotel or get room service unless Hauk or I am with you,” Eric said, looking into the rearview mirror at Charlie.

“I get it,” Charlie replied with his hands up as if he was surrendering.  “You don’t want anything to happen to your wife.  I’m sure everyone in this car will agree that we all feel the same way.  You’ve got nothing to worry about; I won’t put her in any danger and I’ll do anything in my power to keep her safe.”

Turning around in my seat, I smiled back at Charlie.  “Thank you, Charlie. That’s really sweet.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Eric shaking his head slightly with a small smile on his face and feel his amusement.

“You’re sweet too,” I whispered against his cheek before I kissed him.

“I’m not sweet,” he quietly said back to me.  He knew he was sweet to me and I thought it was funny how he tried to deny it, but I could feel that he secretly loved it when I called him out on it.  We could both hear Hauk chuckling lightly in the backseat.

Before I knew it we were pulling up in front of our hotel and from what I could see the first floor was all glass.  Before I even had a chance to unbuckle my seatbelt the valet had opened my door and a bellboy was taking all of our bags out of the back to the car.

The valet held his hand out to help my out of the car, but Eric quickly sidestepped him, holding his hand out for me to take.  Placing my hand in his, I smiled up at him in thanks as I stepped out into the hot, humid night.  

“Welcome to the Hotel Palomar,” the bellboy said as he held open the lobby door for us.

As Eric checked all of us in, I quietly took in my surroundings and read the minds of the woman at the front desk and the bellboy.  

Neither thought anything about a missing a vampire or had any ill-will against vampires.  The woman who was checking us in was thinking quite the opposite as she dealt with my husband.  My anger flared at her thoughts causing Eric to look back at me with a questionable eyebrow.  I shook my head letting him know that there was nothing to be alarmed about.  The only danger was to the dark headed woman who had better stop thinking about how she wanted to unzip Eric’s pants with her teeth.

“Sookie, are you alright?” Hauk asked stepping in front of me.

“Are you reading her thoughts?”  I whispered yelled, pointing around him toward the woman.

“No. I stepped out of her head once I recognized that she wasn’t a threat. Maybe you should do the same.”

“I’m no longer in her head, but I didn’t like what I heard and saw when I was in there,” I continued to whisper yell with my hands on my hips.

It wasn’t until I felt a spike of amusement and lust that I turned and glanced at Eric and I was taken aback with the look he gave me. His blue eyes burned with intense desire and never left mine as he took three long predatory strides toward me.  My heart beat wildly in my chest and I gasped with delight when he threaded one hand in my hair and wrapped his other arm around my waist, pulling my body flush against his.

“Wife,” he growled before hungrily devouring my lips.  His hand traveled up my back until both his hands cradled the back of my head and I moaned into his mouth.

“Ready to go to our room?”  He asked with a sly grin once he released me.

I nodded breathlessly and chuckled. Leave it to Eric to take over the situation and make it better.

He handed Hauk and Charlie each a room key as we made our way to the elevators hand in hand.

“We are all on the same floor,” he said.  “I got the best rooms I could get on such short notice, but we will not be staying here for the duration of the trip.  Once we figure out who kidnapped Godric and how, I will access the security of his home.  It is one of the most secure homes that I know,” he shook his head.  “I do not know how anyone managed to get inside.  It either had to have been someone he knows or someone gave out his security information and there are very few who know the codes to get in.”

Once we stepped out of the elevator Eric took my hand and started to guide us to the right toward our room. “Your rooms are at the other end of the hall. Call us if you need anything.”

“We’ll see you later,” Charlie said as he turned to walk to his room.

“Later,” I called back.

We stepped into our room that had a living area and bedroom with a seating area.  It was a nice and simple with a couch, chair, desk and television, but I didn’t really care about what the room looked like; I was starting to get worried about what could happen while we were in Dallas.

“I got the only suite that was available so that you can leave the bedroom without any worry of sunlight breaking in.”

“What if I don’t want to leave? I would have been happy to stay in a room that was only a bedroom with you.”

Eric smiled at me as he walked into the bedroom signalling me to follow. I watched as he checked the light tight shudders for the room and set new codes for them.  

 

“I know you probably would not mind, but it’s summer and the nights are too short,” he said from the window.  “You do not want to be stuck inside a small room all day. Plus, Quinn will arrive tomorrow and you are to meet and read him. If his intentions are what you believe to be innocent then get him a room with one of your cards.”

He looked out the window for a moment before he turned back to me.  

“I need to talk to Hauk about being there with you when you meet Quinn. I’m  unsure if he wants the tiger to know about his day walking skills. If not, then you can question him in Charlie’s room since he’ll be next door. If anything goes wrong he will be able to help you.”

“Maybe I should wait for you.  I’m not sure about all this and I’d feel safer if I was with you.”

“There is no need for you to be nervous.  I’m only being cautious,” he replied. He grasped my hand and took us over to the bed to sit. “It’s very hard for me to trust anyone else with your safety, but I know that in most cases that if something happened to you during the day, I wouldn’t be able to help you.  You have no idea how much I hate that.”

Eric caressed the side of my face with the back of his fingers as he looked at me. Once again he was showing me how vulnerable he felt and I knew how much he disliked feeling that way. He’d already been in a situation where I could have died during the day and there was nothing he could do. I knew without reading his mind that he was thinking of that day.

I looked up into his deep, soulful blue eyes and smiled.  Just by looking into his eyes I could see how precious I was to him. I never needed words or the bond to know how much I meant to him although he never had any trouble telling how he felt.

I leaned over the slight distance between us and gave him a soft lingering kiss.

“Don’t worry about it. You’re providing me with the best daytime security that you can,” I said with a bright smile.  “I love that you worry about me and how you take care of me.”  I look around the room before settling back on Eric.  “So what are we supposed to do next?”

“I need to go over to Godric’s and see if I can find any clues as to what happened. I want you to stay here and maybe you and Charlie can get something to eat from room service while I’m gone.”

“You don’t want me to come with you?” I asked, feeling slightly rejected. I thought he would have wanted me to come with him.

“It will be safer if you stayed here tonight.  I don’t know what I’ll find when I get there, but we should hopefully know more after we visit Godric’s house, and I ascertain how someone managed to break in and kidnapped him.  Once we have found him, it’s most likely that we will be staying there.  When we have come to visit him in the past he always demands that we stay at his home with him.”  

The worry coming off of Eric and my own worry for him was making for a very emotional night.  For some unknown reason, I didn’t want to be away from him.  I knew that there was nothing I could do to keep him safe, but at least if I was with him I’d know he was okay.  I couldn’t help the tears that sprung up at the corners of my eyes or that my nose had started to tingle.  Looking down at my hands in my lap, I tried to get my emotions under control.  Eric didn’t need this right now.  I closed my eyes and took a couple of deep breathes to rein myself in, trying to  think logically.

Eric’s large cool hand was soon lifting up my chin until I would have been looking him in the eye if my eyes were open.  He was quiet, giving me the time I needed.  When I opened my eyes, I could see the worry and concern in his own eyes as he had knelt down in front of me.

“Kära en, I don’t understand why you are upset.  Is this because I want you to stay here? If it is, it’s only because I worry for your safety.  You know I will always do anything within my power to keep you safe. Explain… please.”  He finished flustered, but still concerned.

“I don’t know if I can explain it since I’m not sure I understand it much myself,” I took a deep breathe before I continued.  “I’m worried about you and what’s going to happen here and I can also feel your worry which is not helping my own.”

“Do you want me to decrease the bond or shut it down?” Eric asked causing a slight twinge of pain in my chest.  I couldn’t stand the thought of him shutting down the bond; I truly loved feeling him even if it was his worry.

“No!” I practically shouted.  “No, I don’t want you to do anything to the bond.” I said more  quietly this time.  “I’m just trying to tell you how I feel.”

“I understand,” he said, rising from the ground.  He scooped me off the bed and into his arms before he sat down and placed me in his lap.  As I laid my head on his shoulder, he started to run his fingers through my hair.

“Finish telling me how you feel.” I felt his chest vibrate with his rumbling voice.

“It’s like I have a bad feeling that something’s going to happen to you and I don’t want to let you out of my sight,” I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face into the crook of his neck. “I know I can’t protect you, but at least if I’m with you I’ll know you’re safe.  Maybe I would read whoever’s mind before they could do anything.  I don’t know.”

“Sookie,” he replied with his arms wrapping around me even tighter and rocking us slightly from side to side.  “I understand the need to know that you are safe and seeing with your own eyes helps relieve yourself of that worry.  I too feel that way, but I also know that I’m going to a situation that could be hostile and I would feel much better knowing that you are here and safe.  I can do my job more  quickly if I’m not looking out for you.  We will have to rely on our bond to let the other know that we are okay.”

His words made me feel as if I was a burden.  My body was human and fragile and he always had to look out for me and make sure that I was safe.

Feeling my mood plummet he let out a sigh before kissing the top of my head.  “I want you with me all the time, never doubt that, but sometimes like this case for example, I must push aside our wants and do what needs to be done.  It do not know how I would live with myself if you ever got hurt because of my selfish desires.” He paused and rocked us back and forth some more before he broke the silence with his voice almost pleading with me. “Please understand.  I only do this for your safety not because I do not  want you there.”

I could feel the truth of his words and his absolute love for me that had me nodding into his neck.  He only wanted my safety and it was possible that if I was there he could miss something important and he was worrying about what could happen to me.

“Thank you for understanding,” he replied, placing another kiss to the top of my head, but this time his lips lingered there as he took me in.  “You haven’t had many chances to see it, but I am a warrior and I have lived for over a thousand years; I know how to keep myself safe. I promise.  You and Charlie can eat and watch a movie and I’ll be back before you know it.”

“I don’t know why I have this bad feeling. Maybe it’s because we’re both worried; I don’t know.  Have I ever told you I had this kind of feeling before?”

Feeling his head shake no, I tried to dismiss my anxiety and give into the wonderful sensation of his arms wrapped around me, the feel of his love for me, and the waves of calm and assurance he was sending me.

“If you’re naked you better get your clothes on. We’re on our way to your room.”  Hauk’s voice sounded in my head.

I let out a deep breath that I didn’t know I was holding before I placed a kiss against Eric’s neck and sat up straight on his lap. “Hauk and Charlie on their way.  Are you taking Hauk with you?” I asked as I got up off his lap.

Eric stood up and looked down at me with a small smile on his handsome face. “I will to appease you, my beautiful wife.  Hopefully it will help you relax.”

“You already promised me that you’d take him with you,” I said giving him a mock glare. He knew I wasn’t serious. I was only worried and I had every right to be worried. Someone knew how to bypass security systems and take down ancient vampires in their homes.

Cupping the right side of my face with one of his large hands, his thumb rubbed across my cheekbone. “ l will never promise you anything if I don’t think I’ll be able to keep my word.  Come,  let us go greet your friends.” His hand dropped from my face to quickly take my hand in his before we walked to the door.

Eric didn’t wait for anyone to knock, he went straight to the door and opened before walking off to grab his leather jacket. Charlie and Hauk came inside but had barely moved before Eric was back by my side.

“We’ll be back as soon as possible,” he said wrapping his arms around me giving me a big hug. He squeezed and lifted me off the ground causing me to giggle before he sat me back down.  Turning toward Charlie, his attitude did a complete one-eighty, as he told him in a no-nonsense voice. “I’d like you both to stay upstairs and get room service.  Once Quinn has been approved then he will go out with you, but until then I want you two to stay in this room or your room.”

“Sure thing, boss man,” Charlie replied.

Shaking his head with a slight smile, Eric turned back to me.  “I’ll be back soon. Relax and eat your dinner.” He placed a feather light kiss upon my lips before he took a step back and headed out the door.

“Eric,”  I called out to him from the doorway as he made his way down the hallway. Both, he and Hauk, turned around. “Be safe.”

“I will,” he replied and started to turn around, but my voice called to him once again.

“I love you,” I whispered.

Before I could take in the change, Eric was standing right in front of me with his lips curled up at the corners.  He leaned down and kissed me until I was dizzy. Pulling back until our noses were touching he tucked my hair behind my ear.

“I love you too,” he replied. He kissed me once more before he vamped down the hallway and into the elevator where Hauk had just stepped in.

“Come back inside,” Charlie called to me,  “and let’s look at the room service menu because I’m starved.  Do you think the foods any good here?” he asked as I closed the door behind me.

“I don’t know but I hope so since it looks like we’ll be eating a few meals here.”

“I would think they’d want to make a vampire’s companion happy and with the price it costs to stay at vampire hotel they’d better,” Charlie stated absent mindedly while looking at the menu.  “How often do you feed Eric?” he asked looking up at me.

“Um… he takes a little bit normally when were intimate, but he never just feeds.  He’s old so he doesn’t need much.  Why are you asking?” I thought it was strange that he was asking since he’d been working for us for over six months and had never asked before.

“Just wondering if you need anything high in iron to eat,” he says with a shrug as he continued to peruse the menu.  “Let’s get the steaks anyways.  Nothing’s better than a good steak.  Does that sound okay?” he asked as he made his way over to the phone.

“Sounds fine. I’ll try and find a movie for us to watch while we eat.”

After finding the remote and nothing on, I went in search of the Pay Per View movies.  Charlie had come to sit on the other end of the couch from me as we browsed your options.

“Are you sure you want to buy a twenty-dollar movie?” he asked me.

“There’s nothing else on and I can’t sit around thinking about what could possibly happen to Eric. I need some kind of distraction.  What else are we going to do since we can’t leave the room?”

Charlie chuckled, “Do you know how ridiculous it is that you’re worried about a vampire who’s over a thousand years old?”

“I can’t help it.  First of all, I love him and there’s nothing wrong with me being worried about my husband.  Plus, I have this weird feeling that something bad is going to happen and I can’t shake it no matter how many times I’ve been told that he’ll be fine and there’s nothing to worry about.  There’s obviously something to worry about when a vampire as old as Godric has been taken from his own home.”

“They’ll figure out how and who got into his house, but you’re right, it isn’t good that someone or someone’s managed to get into his house.  You know you’ll probably be getting an updated security system at your house now.”

“Eric can install anything he wants and I won’t care as long as no one can get in and hurt him.”

“And so no one can hurt you,” Charlie finished.  “Have you decided on a movie yet, the food should be here soon?”

“No, I can’t get my mind off of Eric. Do you see any that interest you?”

“We can watch Thor: The Dark World. It’s the sequel to Thor and I think you need to have watched The Avengers, but we’ve already watched them so you should be all set. What do you think?”

“It’s fine,” I responded flatly.  I didn’t care what we watched.  I know I probably won’t be able to pay that much attention to it until Eric gets back.”

The next thing I knew we had both eaten our dinners, the movie credits were rolling, and Eric still wasn’t back.

“Charlie, do you mind if I go lay down until Eric’s back? I’m sorry I’m not better company. I’ll try and be better tomorrow.”

“Sure thing. Call me when you get up and we’ll get breakfast.  They’ve got a pool on the rooftop so maybe we can visit tomorrow after Quinn gets here.”

“That sounds like fun. I’ll see you tomorrow.  Thanks for coming, Charlie, and for hanging out with me even though I’ve been less than entertaining.”

“I’m happy to be here and it’s no problem.  Good night,” he replied before giving me a brief hug and heading off to his room down the hall.

I decided to get ready for bed and wait in the bedroom for Eric.  I quickly found our suitcase and pulled out one of Eric’s t-shirts.  After stripping off my clothes, washing my face, and brushing my teeth, I pulled his shirt over my head and inhaled Eric’s unique smell.  Closing my eyes, I smiled at how even his t-shirt could calm me down slightly. I wasn’t sure what it was but the way that Eric smelled always made me feel safe and calm.

Feeling that Eric was getting closer, I turned off the lights and lay down to wait for him.  I knew that he was fine so I could finally relax.  I was so relaxed that I had fallen asleep by the time he had gotten back.  It was his cool skin against my body that woke me up.  I slowly turned around to face him and lay my head against his chest, wrapping my arm around him.

“Hey,” I whispered and placed a kiss on his hard, strong chest.

“Hey, yourself,” he replied, placing his own to the top of my head.  “Go back to sleep, Lover. You’ve been too stressed tonight.”  He lay his head against the top of mine and wrapped me tighter in his arms.

“I’m fine now that I know that you’re okay.  What did you find?  Any clues?” I asked as I yawned against him.

“There was a struggle so he was definitely taken against his will.  There was a blood trail leading from the door that comes from his resting place out to the garage and there was the smell of burnt flesh.”

“Anything else? What has you so frustrated?” I asked, rubbing his back with the hand that I had draped over his waist. This was one emotion that I had never felt from him before. Well maybe I felt it a little when he tried to cook me dinner on Valentine’s, but it was nothing compared to this.

“From what we could tell there were four different humans and one vampire there besides Godric. It was hard to pick up the scents with the smell of burned flesh being so prevalent and it has also been a few days so they were not as strong.  It’s the vampire’s scent though that has me… I don’t know who it is, but I know that I’ve encountered him or her before.  It was so faint, but so familiar.”

“So what does it all mean?” I asked. I placed my hands against his chest and pressed a little letting him know that I wanted him to lay on his back.  There was no way I could push him if he didn’t want me to, but he didn’t resist.  He simply rolled onto his back waiting for me to make my next move. I made my way to sit on top of him; I rubbed my hands over his arms, chest, and tight stomach and kept repeating the circuit.  Slowly his frustration was leaving him and being replaced by lust.  His hands came to rest on my hips for a few moments before they started to make their own way up my sides and lightly caress the sides of my breasts before heading back down and along my legs.

“You’re getting very good at distracting me,” Eric stated huskily.  

“You’ve always been good at distracting me; I just didn’t want you feeling so frustrated right before you went to sleep.”

My body bounced up and down at Eric’s silent chuckle.  “Don’t laugh at me,” I said with a fake pout.

“Only you would be worried about what I was feeling before I ‘go to sleep’.  It’s not like I’m going to have dreams about it.  It’s like a blink of an eye, one minute I dead to the world and the next I back, but I do prefer going to sleep with you in my arms and a smile on my face.”

“Me too.” I grabbed his hands and laced our fingers together, holding them out in front of me for balance.  “What does the evidence you found mean?”

“There was no sign of a break in which suggests that someone knew how to get into his home.  We need to be vigilant about our safety while we’re here.  Trust no one and read everyone you encounter.  Hauk has agreed to be with you when you meet Quinn tomorrow.”

“He doesn’t mind that he’ll know he can be during the day?” I asked.

“If Quinn is to be your guard during the day then he will encounter him at some point.  He’s read his mind on numerous occasions and believes that the Tiger will be a good guard to you and will be honorable in keeping his secret.  I trust his judgement as this is his secret that he’s choosing to let be known to someone who cannot be glamoured.  Quinn will be a good guard for you when I cannot be there and I have a feeling we might need him.”

“Why?”  I knew it was serious since I knew he would rather be with me then let me security fall to anyone else.

“I’m afraid that whoever has taken Godric is someone I know.  Someone has betrayed Godric and could very well betray any of us.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. WHAT’S IN A NAME…

###### “What’s in a name? that which we call a rose

###### By any other name would smell as sweet.”

― [William Shakespeare](http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/947.William_Shakespeare), [ _Romeo and Juliet_](http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/3349450)

* * *

I woke up to my phone ringing, then it stopped, and then started ringing again. As quickly as I could, I removed myself from Eric’s steel embrace and retrieved my phone as it started ringing once again.

“Hello?” I asked blearily through a yawn.

“Sookie, I’m sorry to wake you,” Charlie said, his voice laced with apology, “but Quinn’s here.  In my room,” he whispered the last part.

“Okay. He’s not threatening you or anything is he?” I couldn’t understand why it seemed to be a big deal that he was in Charlie’s room.  Maybe it had to do with the fact that I was half asleep.

“No, no.  Nothing like that. He’s been demanding to see you for the last hour. I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can hold him off any longer.”

“It’s fine. Just give me time to get showered and dressed.  What time is it anyway?”

“A little after ten.  I’ll let him know that you’re up and getting ready.  Do you want me to order you breakfast?”

“Definitely and make sure you get coffee. Lots of coffee.  I may need an entire pot to get through the day.  I won’t be long.  Is Hauk there with you?”

“Not yet. I sent him a text message and he can hear what’s going on in here, but he’s waiting to come over until you get here.  I’m not really sure how much sleep he needs, but I have a feeling he didn’t meet the quota.”

“Me neither.  I’ll see you in a few.”

I quickly showered, brushed my teeth, got dressed, and grabbed my phone and purse. I gave Eric a kiss, and then I was out the door, off to officially meet who we hoped would become my daytime bodyguard.

Charlie opened the door with a relieved look on his face. I quickly read his mind to see what was happening.  Normally Charlie was extremely laid back; I’d never seen him on edge before.

_Thank God she’s here. If I had to sit in the same room alone with him any long with him staring at me with those creepy eyes…_

“Charlie, are you okay?” I asked.  I knew he was, but he didn’t know of my telepathy at the moment since we weren’t practicing and I wanted to let him know that I was concerned.

“I’m fine now that you’re here.  Did you know that the guy we’re supposed to meet has purple eyes?” he whispered.

“I did. Aren’t they pretty?” I asked with a smile. I thought they were and I wasn’t sure why they bothered Charlie.  I knew that it was quite rare for someone to have purple eyes, but it did happen.  He would just have to get used to them.

Charlie’s eyes widened at my comment but other than that he didn’t respond.  I walked around him and patted him on the shoulder.

“Did you order breakfast?” I called out over my shoulder.

“Yeah, it should be here in a few minutes.” I heard from behind me.

[ ](http://i0.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/quinn21.jpg)

Quinn was sitting in a chair looking a little impatient when I first spotted him.   I probably would have been intimidated by him too if he hadn’t been nice on our first encounter.

“Mr. Quinn,” I said as I strode toward him with my hand out.

 

“Mrs. Northman, please just call me Quinn,” he replied, standing up to shake my hand.

“Then you must call me Sookie,” I answered back.

Quinn looked over at Charlie with a questionable look.

_Is she trying to get me into trouble?  Most employers want to go by Mr. or Mrs., definitely not by their first name._

“Call her by whatever she wants. If you don’t, boss man won’t be happy,” Charlie stated as he sat down on the couch.

“Boss man?” Quinn questioned.

“Yeah, Mr. Northman.  You do not want to get on his bad side and a sure fire way to do that is by not doing what she asks.”

“Charlie, you make it sound like I ask you to do all kinds of things that I shouldn’t.  You’re going to give him a bad impression of me,” I said, poking out my bottom lip and plopping down in the chair across from where Quinn had been sitting.

“I didn’t mean it like that, I swear.  Seriously, they are the best and easiest employers I’ve ever had.  Sookie is not a trouble maker,” he said, shaking his head.  “She’s gotta be one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met.  My only advice is to not let anything bad happen to her. If she got hurt I’m pretty sure Mr. Northman would kill you and possibly anyone else around.”

 _Doesn’t sound too sweet to me.  How sweet can she be with a vampire as a husband? With_  Eric _fucking_ Northman as  _her husband?_

“Thank you, Charlie,” I said, letting him hear the annoyance in my voice. He wasn’t helping matters talking about Eric killing people if I got hurt.

“I’m sorry about what Charlie said, but I can’t say he’s lying.  If any harm were to come to me while you were around or on duty or whatever you want to call it, Eric would most likely hurt you and maybe kill you,” I stated with a sheepish smile.  I didn’t want to lie to him and I was pretty sure that Eric would be threatening his life later on tonight. He needed to know what he was getting himself into.

“I understand, Mrs…” he started, but at seeing that I was going to correct him, he corrected himself before I could.  “I understand, Sookie.  Vampires are very possessive by nature. Hell, most Supes are, and if all’s said and done and I’m your bodyguard, and you got hurt, then I’d expect something unpleasant from your husband.”

“Unpleasant?” Charlie snorted with an eye roll as there was a knock on the door.  “That must be room service.”

Charlie left us alone while he got our food and I thought it was a perfect time to ask a very important question before Hauk got here.

“Do you have any problems working for vampires?” I asked.  This was the true test. I knew that Weres and vampires didn’t get along and if he had a serious problem working for one then we might have a problem.

_Working? No. Being forced to do whatever they want? Yes. Everyone knows of Eric Northman and his reputation, but while he may be a vampire, he’s also known to be loyal to those people who have earned his trust and honorable.  Hauk vouched for him and there are not many vampires that will do that for another._

“Depends on the vampire,” Quinn said, his deep voice breaking me away from his thoughts. “You don’t need to worry. I’m not going to try and kill your husband while he’s sleeping or anything of that nature.  While there are plenty of vampires that I don’t get along with I’m not going to hate anyone based on their race.”

“Let’s eat, guys,” Charlie called from the table.

I chuckled and looked at Quinn. “He loves to eat.”

“Good,” he replied. Upon seeing my questioning look he continued.  “I don’t know if you know this or not but Weres eat about three times the amount of a normal human.”

“I had no idea.  Wow!  That sounds like a lot.”

“You have no idea,” he chuckled as we headed over to the table that was covered with different dishes.  There was bacon, ham, sausage, scrambled and fried eggs, french toast, waffles, pancakes, toast, bagels, fruit, coffee, milk, and orange juice.

“Did you order everything from the breakfast menu?” I asked once I took in all the food.

“I left a few things,” Charlie replied as he piled his plate with food.

“I hope you’re hungry,” I said to Quinn as I started to load a plate with food. I chose bacon, scrambled eggs, a slice of ham, a waffle with maple syrup, and, of course, coffee.  Since the entire table was filled with food we went back to the living area to eat.  When I was about halfway through eating my breakfast, Hauk came through the door that connected his room to Charlie’s.

“How is everyone today?” he greeted as he sat down beside Charlie on the couch with a bottle of blood.  I wasn’t sure what the brand was; all I knew was that it wasn’t True Blood or Royalty.

Quinn choked when he first saw Hauk walk him the room with the sun hitting him as he made his way over to the couch, and then all he could do was stare. It seemed his brain had nearly shut down over seeing Hauk during the day.  I couldn’t get anything from him.

 _Are you getting anything?_  I asked Hauk _._ It was quite handy that we could communicate telepathically if we had our shields lowered.

_Nothing.  I’ve been reading him since he first arrived and everything seems good.  I guess we’ll know once he gets over seeing me up during the daytime._

We sat quietly while we waited for Quinn to respond.  I started eating the rest of my breakfast as I continued to listen with my shields fully down.  I guess one good thing about staying at a vampire hotel was that almost everyone was asleep during the day and I didn’t have to worry about my shields.  With frequent nips during sex, it was easy to maintain my shields all the time.

After a few minutes of everyone sitting in silence, Quinn’s mouth started to open and close.  I couldn’t get a coherent thought out of him yet so I finished my breakfast as I waited.

“You’re a… vampire, right?” he finally asked.

“Hence the blood,” Hauk replied lifting his bottle of blood in the air toward him.

“How are you here?”

“I believe I just walked in,” Hauk replied with a grin and sipped his drink.

Quinn’s awe slightly wore off and he glared at Hauk.  “How are you awake and in the  _sun_?”

_Are the windows UV tinted here?  It doesn’t matter if they are, it’s morning and he’s sitting across from me in broad daylight._

“Before I was turned, I was a fairy.”

“Have you always been able to be up during the day and out in the sun?” Quinn asked, shaking his head.

_Maybe this is all a dream.  Maybe I fell asleep on my way here or while I was waiting on the Sheriff’s wife._

“I’ve always been able to be up during the day, but I’m unsure about being out in the sun. My Maker was not very kind and I was commanded to be by his side while he slept.  It wasn’t until his true death that I learned I could feel the sun on my skin without it burning me.”

“I remember when your Maker died,” Quinn replied.  “It hasn’t been too long ago.  Why are you hanging out with Northman when you just got free of your Maker?”

Hauk let out a bellowing laugh, doubling over and clutching his stomach.  All we could do was  stare at his hysterics until he calmed down.  I wasn’t sure what he thought was so funny.  When I tried to read his thoughts there was only laughter.  Hearing his laughter inside and out caused a small smile to form on my own lips, but I still wanted to know what was so funny.

Once he calmed down he wiped away a bloody tear that had escaped from his laughter.  “There is no hanging out with Northman.  He tolerates me and nothing more because of his wife.”

“Now why would he do that? I can’t imagine him wanting you around her,” Quinn drolled out.

_Sookie? We have to tell him something. He’s going to be suspicious if we don’t.  If he’s going to be around as your bodyguard he’s going to notice your odd behavior when you read minds and how you came upon your knowledge._

_If we tell him I’m a telepath he’s going to know that you’re one too. I don’t know what to do. I’m not sure we should tell him or what Eric wants him to know.  I trust him to be my bodyguard, but not with being a fairy and our telepathy. Maybe in time._

“You’ll have to let Northman answer that if you want to know the answer,” Hauk finally replied.

Quinn’s gazed flickered back and forth between the three of us.

“I get it. I get it,” he replied and then popped a piece of sausage in his mouth.  “We all gotta earn each other’s trust. So… do you guys have any questions for me? Am I hired? What am I supposed to do exactly?”

“Eric gets the final say, so we’ll have to wait until dark and he talks to you.  As for what you’re supposed to do… I guess if I go out, you’re to come with me and make sure that nothing happens to me.  I’m not sure if you’ve been filled in as to why we’re in Dallas or not; we’re here because Godric, the Sheriff of Area Nine, has been kidnapped from his home.  Since he’s an old friend of Eric’s, we’ve come to try and help find him.”  I looked at Hauk to see if I’d covered what I needed and didn’t give anything away that I shouldn’t have.

“Yes, so we may come to be in some dangerous situations, and if they find out that we’re here to help they may come after us.”

“What?!” I had never thought of the fact that if we were discovered trying to find Godric that they might come looking for us.

“It’s a possibility.  We don’t know who we’re up against,” he replied.  “What we do know is that there were four humans who were in his house and one vampire.  We were unable to identify any of their scents last night, but Northman does know that he’s encountered the vampire before.  Their scents were already fading since it had already been a few days after he was taken and the smell of burnt flesh was prevalent throughout the area.”

“Okay,” Quinn stated and then clapped his hands causing Charlie and I to jump.  “So we got a bit of mystery to solve.”

“Your job isn’t to solve a mystery, it’s to keep her safe,” Hauk looked over at me, “while we try to find Godric.  Just make sure you do your job or your life will be forfeit.”

“Alrighty then! I think we need to stop talking about killing people and do something a little lighter.  Don’t you?” Charlie asked, looking over at me.

“Yes,” I said, standing up with my hands on my hips.  “What are we going to do?”

“There’s a pool on the rooftop. Do you want to go up there? Swim? Layout?” Charlie asked.

“I think since Quinn will be with you, I’m going to go back to bed if that’s okay with you?” Hauk said, standing up.

“I know you can’t go out during the day, but we could stay here if you want,” I responded.

“I could use some more sleep and you guys should go have fun.  Unless you don’t feel comfortable?”

“No, I’m fine. You go sleep and we’ll go to the pool.  What should I wear?”

“A swimsuit,” Charlie replied hesitantly.

“Do I have a swimsuit?  Do you think Eric packed one?” I asked looking between Charlie and Hauk.

“You’ll just have to look.  I can’t imagine what he’d pack for you or that he actually packs  _anything_ at all,” Charlie said, shaking his head.

“I’m going to go back to my room and look for a swimsuit.  First though, we need to get you a room,” I said turning to Quinn.

OoOoO

After getting Quinn a room to stay in until we found Godric, and then dumping out and going through all the clothes that Eric had packed, I found a swimsuit to wear.  We all met outside my room, and then made our way up to the rooftop pool.

 

[ ](http://i0.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/pool-palomar.jpg)

Charlie whistled as we all looked around and saw that we had the pool all to ourselves.

“This is pretty sweet.  Is it always like this at vampire hotels?” he asked as we each found ourselves a lounger to layout on.

“I don’t know.  The only hotel I’ve stayed at was in New Orleans and it was winter then,” I replied as I took a towel from Charlie and lay it over the lounger before I sat down.

“Surely you’ve stayed in other hotels before,” Charlie stated.

[ ](http://i1.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/quinn5.jpg)

“Of course she has,” Quinn said, rolling his head to look at me.

“I’m sure I have. I know I have, but I don’t remember them,” I said with a shrug.  “I think we stayed in a hotel when we went to Norway for our honeymoon.”

“Oh, Sookie, I’m so sorry.  I keep doing that,” Charlie said with a sad look on his face.  I liked that he had forgotten that I couldn’t remember the first twenty-six years of my life.  It meant that I wasn’t doing something all the time that reminded him of how little I knew when he first met me.

Smiling at Charlie, I said, “It’s fine. It’s great actually.  It means that I’ve come a long way since you met me.”

“You definitely have.”

“Can one of you tell me what the hell you’re talking about?” Quinn asked gruffly as he peeked out from under his sunglasses.

I looked over at Charlie and he gave me an encouraging nod. “Well… back in January, I was in a really bad car accident and almost died,” I started.  Quinn sat up giving me his full attention. “It was during the day. I’m not really sure what time, but it was many hours before Eric woke up for the day.”

“Woke up for the day?” Quinn interrupted.

“Pfft,” I said, waving my hands in the air.  “That’s what I call it.  I don’t like saying he’s dead for the day or at all so he’s asleep and he wakes up.”

“You do know that’s not really true. Right?”

“I know that I can’t call him up right now, but if I really wanted or needed to I could wake him.  Anyway on with the accident, I had multiple broken bones, severe head trauma, and was unconscious when Eric got to the hospital.  He gave me his blood, glamoured them to release me, and then we left.  When I woke up the next day I had no memory.”

“No memory at all?” Quinn asked with uncertainty.

“None at all,” I said, shaking my head.

“You were already married to Northman?” he asked leaning forward.

“Yes, we’ve been married for four years.”

“What did you think when you found out your husband was a vampire?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “It made no difference to me.  I would have been just as shocked to find out that I was married to a human or anything else.”

“Hmmm.  Well as long as you’re happy now.”

“I am. I don’t know what I would have done without Eric there to help me.  I would have been so lost.  I’m really lucky to have him. So there may be times when I don’t know something or someone that I should.  Most everyone in Eric’s Area knows that I was in an accident since neither Eric nor I was around for a good while afterward and I’m sure they thought I was odd when I did come back, but they’ve never asked any questions.  They are all very loyal, but we don’t really want it getting out about my amnesia since there would be plenty who would try and take advantage of that fact.”

“I understand and I give you my word that I won’t tell a soul without your direct permission.”

“Thank you.  Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” he said, shrugging his shoulders before he lay back down with his hands behind his head.

“I know you’re a weretiger, but I don’t really know that much about Weres.  Can you shift whenever you want?”

“I can shift whenever I want, but I  _have_  to shift when there’s a full moon.  I take it you don’t know any Weres?”

“The dayman we had before Charlie was a Were, but he was fired the first night I met him again after the accident, so no, I don’t know any but you.”

“What kind of tiger are you?” Charlie asked from his lounger.

“A Bengal,” Quinn replied.

[ ](http://i2.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/bengal-tiger-quinn.jpg)

I didn’t know there were different types of tigers, but luckily he pictured what he looked like after he shifted.  He was a huge!  He was a good choice for a bodyguard. I don’t think anyone would mess with him as a human or as a tiger. I could see why Eric had chosen him.

“I don’t know about you guys but I’m getting hot. I’m going to jump in the pool to cool off and then I’m thinking we could order lunch up here. What do you think?”

Quinn’s brows furrowed. “I thinking that you think about food more than me,” he said with a laugh, “but yeah, that sounds good.”

“Cool.  I’ll be back in a bit,” he said as he stood and walked over to the pool.

[ ](http://i1.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/charlie-swimsuit.jpg)

“How long has he worked for you?” Quinn asked as we watched Charlie dive into the pool creating a huge splash.

“A little over six months,” I said with a smile as I watched Charlie surface from his dive.

“You like him,” Quinn stated.

“What’s not to like?  He’s a good friend.”

“He’s an employee.”

 

“Yes, he’s an employee and a friend. His job has been to take me places during the day since I didn’t know where anything was. It’s an easy job. He’s introduced me to a lot of foods that I would have never tried if it wasn’t for him.  Before meeting him, I went off what was in my pantry and what Eric told me I liked since I couldn’t remember what I liked or how to cook.  Charlie’s done a good job of teaching me to cook.  I was trying on my own by watching cooking shows and reading from my Gran’s cookbook, but it would take me forever to cook myself a meal even with Eric’s help.”

“Northman helped you cook?” he questioned with a disbelief.

“Yeah, it was funny since neither one of us knew how to cook. Well, he knew more than me, but only a few simple things.”

“I still can’t picture him in the kitchen cooking,” he said, shaking his head and chuckling to himself.  “Not with the reputation he has.”

“I’m sure the more time that you’re around him you’ll realize that he can be a good guy when he’s not in the public eye.”

Quinn chuckled again.  “We’ll see about that, but I guess he can’t be that bad if you’re still with him. You seem like a sweet girl.”

“Thanks, and you’ll see,” I said, smiling.

“So the bar had menus for the restaurant downstairs,” Charlie said as he handed us each a menu.  “Maybe tonight we can eat down there or somewhere else now that you’ve got a bodyguard.”

“I’m sure if we don’t want to eat room service again we can eat elsewhere, Charlie.”

“Good. I don’t want to be stuck inside my room all night.”

“I don’t know what the plan is for tonight, but if I’m with Eric you don’t have to stay in your room.  You can go out and do whatever you want.”

“Cool.  Hmmm… I think I’m going to have the ribs,” Charlie said after looking over his menu one final time.

“Ribs at the pool?” Quinn questioned.

“Yeah, why not?”

“Just seems like a strange place to eat ribs,” Quinn stated.

Charlie only shrugged his shoulders as he called over a waiter from the bar so that we could order.

[ ](http://i0.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/charlie-eating-at-the-pool.jpg)

As I ate my turkey club and Quinn ate his cheeseburger, we watched Charlie dig into his lunch.  It did seem that ribs were a little too messy to be eating outside at the pool since Charlie’s fingers, mouth, and chin were covered in barbecue sauce. Instead of wiping it off with the only napkin he had left when he was done, he jumped into the pool to get rid of the sauce.  Quinn and I could only laugh as we watched him scrub his face with the pool water and the looks on the waiter and bartender’s faces.

“I think we should get out of here before they kick us out,” I said as I stood and started to collect our stuff.

“They’re not going to kick you out.  You’re a vampire’s companion and they don’t want to piss him off.  You could practically do anything you wanted and they wouldn’t say a word.”

They wouldn’t say it but if I wanted, I could hear it and I didn’t want them thinking badly about us.  I didn’t want us to be known as troublemakers and if they didn’t like us and trouble came looking for us, they might give us away.

“Still I think I’m done for the day,” I said as I continued to gather our stuff.  “I’m going to take a nap until Eric gets up.  I didn’t get much sleep since I was up until almost dawn.  I guess you could say I pretty much have vampire hours.  Well, I can’t sleep that long in the summer, but I try to spend as much time with Eric that I can since there’s so little night time hours during the summer.”

“Got it.  I’ll try and adjust my hours since I know you’ll be asleep until afternoon, but don’t worry.  Weres don’t need as much sleep as humans unless we are hurt and healing.” Grabbing his phone, he looked at it for a minute before responding. “You have about four hours until sunset.”

“I’d better go and get some sleep then. I’m sure Eric will want to start the night as soon as the sun’s down.  Are you going to stay here?” I asked.

“Naw, I’ll walk you to your room and try to get some sleep too. Hey Charlie!” Quinn yelled the last part.  “We’re going to head down to our rooms and get a nap in before tonight. You coming?”

“You guys go ahead. I’ll be down later.”

“I’ll see you later, Charlie,” I called out to him as we passed him.  “I’m gonna take a nap before Eric gets up.”

“You do that,” he said with a mischievous smile.

OoOoO

I woke up to Eric nuzzling my neck, his arms and one leg wrapped around me.  Moaning, I snuggled in closer to his chest and tightened the arm I had around him.

“Good evening, Lover,” Eric huskily greeted me as he placed kisses along my neck.  “You smell of the sun and me, the perfect combination.  Mmmm,” he groaned.

“Thank you for being here when I woke up,” he said, the last as he nipped at my ear.

“Eric,” I moaned out. “I’m almost always with you when you wake up.  There’s no need for you to thank me.”

“I’m thankful for every night that I wake up and you are by my side.”

“Good, because I plan for you to wake up with me by your side for the next thousand years or so,” I said as I trailed kisses down his chest until I reached the deep ‘V’ of his hips and began to lick him until I reached his rock hard cock.

“Mmmmm, nothing would make me happier, Lover,” he purred as I continued my way down.

I licked him from his base all the way up until I reached his tip where I sucked hard since it was already leaking precum.

“Fuck,” Eric moaned.  His hands quickly gathered my hair and his hips flexed a little, searching for something more than my lips.

With a small chuckle, I took him as far as I could into my mouth and what I couldn’t take, I used my hands.  My name was a sacred chant from his lips and I took my time pleasuring him. As I picked up speed, I hollowed out my cheeks and trailed my tongue along on the way up.  I watched as the firm muscles of his stomach tensed as his hand in my hair tightened, and I could tell that he was teetering on the edge of ecstasy. With a smile around his cock,  I grazed my teeth along his length and he came hard and long down my throat.

I kissed the tip of his head before crawling back up his body and snuggled against his chest.  His hands traveled up and down my bare back and I sighed against his touch.

“I don’t want to get up,” I said as I trailed my hand along his stomach.

“I wish we could lay in bed all night but we have a meeting with Stan Davis.  We need to get out of this bed and get ready.  Do you want to eat dinner here or do you want to go somewhere else?”

“Are Charlie and Quinn coming?” I asked as I continued to rest my head against his chest.

“If you want them too. How was your day by the way?  I’m sorry I didn’t ask sooner but you provided quite the distraction when I woke up,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.  “I’m guessing Quinn passed the double telepath test.”

“It was a good day except that I was woken up too early.  Quinn passed,” I said, hesitating for a moment.

“What is it?” Eric asked cupping my face and tilting my head to look at him.

“I told him about my amnesia but not about being a fairy or a telepath.  He wanted to know why Hauk was ‘hanging out’ with you, but we told him that was for you to tell.  Hauk said he’ll probably become suspicious but that’s all I felt comfortable with telling him.  I trust him to be my bodyguard but not with our secrets.”

“Good,” he replied kissing me softly before speaking against my lips.  “That’s how it should be and you may never feel comfortable telling him. He’ll know what he needs to know. The least amount of people who know, the better, and if you ever hear anything from him that you don’t like or makes you not trust him, I want you to let me know.”

“I will,” I said, giving him one final kiss before getting out of bed and heading into the bathroom to turn on the shower.

“I’m going to send Charlie a message letting him know that we’re going to dinner after we get ready and to let Quinn and Hauk know,” I said over my shoulder as I dug through my bag to find my phone.

“I’ll meet you in the shower.  I’m not done with you yet,” he replied as he retreated into the bathroom, causing my body to shiver in anticipation.

OoOoO

“I asked around about restaurants and there’s supposed to be a great Mexican restaurant just around the corner. We can walk if you want,” Charlie said when we met him, Hauk, and Quinn downstairs.

“Sounds good to me.  How ’bout you?” I asked Quinn.

“I’ll eat just about anything,” he replied with a smile. “Maybe you should ask the vampires though.”

“They have names,” I replied, each word filled with anger. Our situation wasn’t going to work if they couldn’t even call each other by their names.

“I know. Sorry,” Quinn said looking a little sheepish until he saw the smiles on Eric and Hauk’s faces.

“As long as they have blood available we’ll be fine,” Eric stated, wrapping his arm around my shoulder as we followed Charlie.

“I highly doubt they have anything but True Blood; nothing like what you’re used to,” Hauk stated as he smirked at me.  “I’ll be fine.  I plan to find a donor when we get to the King’s house.”

[ ](http://i1.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/cuquita.jpg)

We all stopped and stared once we made it to the restaurant. It certainly didn’t look like much and it was in a strip mall, but as long as the food was good, I didn’t care.

“Do you still not care?” Quinn asked after he took another look.

“If it’s acceptable for you then I’ll make do. If I have to I won’t breathe.” Looking down at me Eric said, “If you don’t want to eat here, let me know and we’ll find someplace else.”

[ ](http://i1.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/cuquitas-inside.jpg)

We walked in and the restaurant was hardly busy, but it looked nice and clean.  I think Charlie had started to get nervous that it would be a dump and Eric wouldn’t approve. I ordered cheesy bean dip, guacamole for my chips, and chicken fajitas. As for Quinn and Charlie, I think they ordered at least one of everything on the menu. Neither Eric nor Hauk ordered a blood.

Eric scrunched up his nose when he saw that they didn’t even offer True Blood. They only had Red Stuff which was cheap and even more disgusting than True Blood according to Eric.

[ ](http://i0.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/scrunched-nose.jpg)

While we ate, Eric spoke quietly on the phone in Old Norse to whom I was assuming was Pam.  Normally they spoke in Swedish, but I guess he thought it was possible that Hauk could understand what they were saying. I had checked to see if he understood what they were saying a time or two.  Luckily he didn’t; Eric had started to trust him but I knew he wouldn’t like it if Hauk could understand all their private conversations.  I knew Eric spoke many languages but I think Pam only knew a few.

“Are you not uncomfortable watching us eat?” Quinn asked Hauk and Eric, after he had consumed half of his meal.

Hauk only shook his head and went back to his conversation with Charlie about what he was going to do while we went to the Stan Davis’ house.

“I’d be a pretty shitty husband if I couldn’t stand to be around my wife while she ate.”  Eric squeezed the shoulder his hand was draped across. I gave him a smile and continued to eat. I was about halfway done while Charlie and Quinn were close to finishing. I didn’t want everyone waiting for me to finish when we had plenty to do tonight.

Quinn let out a deep rumbling chuckle. “Hell, there are plenty of human men who can’t stand to be around their wives when they eat, but good for you,” he said, tipping his beer toward us.

Eric let out a sigh before kissing the top of my head. “Let’s get this out of the way. I don’t know what you’ve been told, but your top priority is keeping Sookie safe, no matter what she says or does. She’s probably going to want to be your friend; that’s just who she is and that’s fine, be her friend, but remember you also have a job to do.  If she gets hurt under your watch the first thing I’ll do is neuter you and move on from there until you’ll wish for a quick death. Do we understand each other?”

“We do,” Quinn gave him a slight nod.

“What’s neuter?” I asked.

Charlie choked on his bite of food and Quinn spit out the drink he had in his mouth when I asked the question, causing me to furrow my brows in confusion.  No one had that type of reaction when Eric said it.

Eric chuckled and picked up my hand kissing my knuckles. “It means to remove an animal’s sexual organ. In his case, his testicles.”

“Eric,” I whisper yelled. “Would he be able to have sex after that?” I questioned quietly.

Letting out a loud, booming laugh, Eric doubled over and had to wipe away a blood tear before he finally calmed down.

“It would significantly decrease his need and desire to do so,” he replied flatly after a moment of composing himself.

“That’s not nice,” I replied with a frown.  I knew how much Eric and I enjoyed sex and if someone cut off his testicles and it made him not want sex anymore, neither one of us would be happy.

“I know. It’s not supposed to be nice.  He knows that I’m serious and if he doesn’t want it to happen, he’ll keep you safe.  It’s that simple.”

OoOoO

“Were you talking to Pam on the phone?” I asked as we walked back to the hotel to get our car and head to the King’s house.

“Yes, I was informing her of the new security upgrades I’m having installed at our house, her house, and at Fangtasia, and that I need for her to be there when they finish so that she can glamour them.”

“Told ya,” Charlie called out from behind us.

Feeling Eric’s slight annoyance that we had an audience, I hugged myself to him as we walked.  Eric values his privacy and isn’t quick to open up to someone.  I knew that if it was up to him, it would only be me, him, and occasionally Pam, but he put up being around Charlie and Hauk for me and now we had added another to our group.

“Charlie was telling me last night how you’d probably want to upgrade our security with this new threat out there,” I explained.

“I only want you safe,” he said quietly, squeezing me a little tighter.

“That’s what I said. I don’t care what you have installed as long as it keeps you safe.”

 _I love that you worry for me, dear one._  I heard Eric send to me.

“Always.”

We arrived back at the hotel and Eric handed over our ticket to the valet. Charlie and Quinn both started to go inside until I called them back.

“Is Quinn not coming with us?” I asked confused.

[ ](http://i0.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/eric18-21.jpg)

“I don’t believe he’d be very welcomed at the King’s house.  If I cannot be with you then Hauk can stay with you. There’s nothing to worry about, you’re my bonded mate. No vampire will bother you, but you need to remember we’re not in my Area anymore.  We have to go by someone else’s rules while we’re here,” he explained.

“I remember,” I quietly responded.  That’s what had me worried. I didn’t know the rules here or how they treated humans.  I only knew that most vampires didn’t treat humans very well.  They were treated like pets if they were lucky.

“No need to be worried,” he said against my temple as he placed a kiss there.  “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I know you won’t,” I said, placing a kiss on his chest. Pulling away slightly, I turned toward Charlie and Quinn.  “I guess I’ll see you guys later.  I’ll call you tomorrow after I wake up,” I said the last part to Charlie.

“See you tomorrow,” Charlie waved back.

The drive from the hotel to the King’s house took around half an hour with all the traffic in the city, even with Eric driving.

We pulled up in front of this huge three-story mansion on a hill. I’d never seen anything like it before, at least not that I could recall. There weren’t houses like this in Louisiana.

[ ](http://i0.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/sd-6.png)

Looking over at Eric, he had a small smile on his face from feeling my wonderment of the house before us.

“Does he really need such a big house?” I asked as I took off my seatbelt.

Eric left out a slight chuckle from my side of the car as he held his hand out to assist me.

“This is his royal residence. He has many who live here that work for him. If you haven’t noticed we vampires like to live in luxury,” he explained.

“I never thought about it. I thought it was normal.”

“Good, then I’m doing my job.” He placed a kiss to the palm of my hand before putting it in the crook of his elbow. We silently walked to the front door where we were stopped by a guard.

“Northman and party. I have an appointment with His Majesty.”

The guard called through some sort of headset to get confirmation of our appointment. From his mind I read that he already knew we were supposed to arrive, but they had no idea why Eric wanted to see their king. I gave his arm a squeeze and sent him my satisfaction that all was well so far.

 

  


 

 

 

 

We were escorted through the royal residence until we came to a living room that was being used as a waiting room.

 

[ ](http://i2.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/sd-22.png)

The three of us sat quietly on a couch until the king was ready to receive us. Hauk and I dipped into the heads of each vampire and human who was on the compound. Neither of us found anything that we could use to find Godric or that they had any ill will toward us.

A young good looking man with dark skin and blue eyes, dressed in jeans, a white shirt and a jacket came out from around the corner straight toward us. Eric looked over at him when he felt me tense up, but sent his approval of the man.

“Mason,” Eric nodded to him.

[ ](http://i1.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/mason11.jpg)

“Mr. Northman,” he replied back with a nod, first to Eric, then me, and Hauk.

“Do you have anything new to report?” Eric asked him in a quiet tone so that only we could hear him.

“I’m afraid not,” Mason said, his eyes misted with tears.

Eric gave him another nod before he introduced us.

“Mason, you know Sookie and Hauk. Stay here until I’m done with the king and we’ll talk later.”

“Yes, sir.” He sat down in a chair next to Hauk before he got out his phone and started typing away.

“Mr. Northman,” a pretty brunette purred at Eric.  “His Majesty will see you now.” I watched as she looked at him from head to toe before licking her lips.

[ ](http://i2.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/ms-liplicker.jpg)

Eric stood with a hand out for me to take until Ms. Liplicker informed us that only Eric could go back and see the King.  I knew that if I read her mind I would not like what I found so I asked Hauk to do it. We had to make sure she was not a threat to us or if she knew any information on Godric.  She wasn’t a threat; she only wanted to fuck my husband according to Hauk.

“Stay with her,” Eric directed to Hauk before he followed Ms. Liplicker.

“I don’t like her,” I whispered to Hauk.

He looked at me letting out a light chuckle but otherwise didn’t respond.

“Mason?” I asked the young man sitting to Hauk’s side.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied looking up from his phone.

“Do you know Godric?”

“Yes, ma’am.  I’m his dayman,” he said giving me a strange look.

“Do you happen to have a picture of him that we could see?  It would help with our search if everyone knew what he looked like.”

“I’m afraid I don’t.  You know how he is,” he said with a light laugh.

Actually I had no clue how he was, but Mason had been there on a few occasions when I had met with both him and Godric. I watched as he mentally went through a few of those times.  Luckily when I had asked for the picture he had thought about what Godric looked like so now I knew.

[ ](http://i2.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/godric1.png)

It was surprising to see a vampire over two thousand years old looking like a teenager.  He wasn’t tall and had short brown hair, and blue eyes. He had tattoos peeking out from underneath his shirt.

Hauk gave me a slight nod letting me know that he had received the image as well.

“Yeah, of course I know him.  What was I thinking?” I was thinking I had no clue who Mason or Godric was.  Luckily now that my telepathy had returned it was easier if I was around someone whom I had known before, but didn’t remember something they were talking about being as they normally thought about it as they were speaking.  I would just listen to their minds and surmise at what they expected to hear.

We continued to sit quietly while we waited for Eric to return.  I was moving from one mind to the other to see if anyone had any thoughts about Godric, but I was coming up empty.  It didn’t look as if anyone here was part of his kidnapping or knew anything of it, but then again just because they weren’t thinking about it didn’t mean they weren’t complicit.

_I know that most delectable smell.  It smells like Sookie but… what would she be doing here in Dallas.  No one knows I’m here._

What the hell was Bill Compton doing in Dallas?

 _“Bill Compton is here.”_  I sent to Hauk.

I could tell that he was trying to pinpoint his exact location, but before he had the chance, Bill came walking in the room trying to look as if he didn’t know I was there.

[ ](http://i0.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/bill3.jpg)

“Sookie, what a surprise.  What are you doing here and where is your husband?” he asked looking around for Eric.

_Maybe she finally left him.  I wonder what did it?  No matter what I tried I could never get Eric to cheat or feed on anyone I sent to attempt and seduce him away.  I can’t believe Eric Northman’s fucking faithful to his wife.  It must be her blood. She smells better than anything I’ve ever smelled in my life.  I need to taste her to find out._

_Hmmm.  Maybe I can glamour her into following me into one of the bedrooms here.  I bet if he found her and saw with his own eyes that she was with another man he’d leave her. I only need to wait until I can get that vampire that’s always with her out of the room. Why is he always around? Is Northman sharing now?_

I was trying with everything in me to hide what I was hearing from Bill. He had checked himself out of Area Five about a month ago and we were hoping we’d never see him again, or at least not for a few hundred years.

We knew he had been trying to split us apart from the first night he had shown up at Fangtasia.  It seemed as if he hadn’t given up on that fantasy quite yet, but there was no way in hell he would ever taste my blood.

“I’m right here,” Eric said from behind Bill.

[ ](http://i1.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/eric-and-bill2.jpg)

_“Are you okay?”_ Eric sent to me as he glanced at me.  I gave him a slight nod and wished that I could send my own thoughts to him as I could with Hauk.  It would definitely make life so much easier.

“A pleasure as always, Sheriff.  What brings you to the Area?”

“I think a better question is what business you have here, Compton,” Eric narrowed his eyes and Billy sneered in response.

“Northman, bring your wife and let’s finish our meeting.” An angry voice called out from the office Eric had been in before Bill could respond.

Stepping around Bill, Eric helped me up and we made our way into the office.  Once the door was closed, he turned to me telling me not to be worried and that everything was fine.

“I heard you run into Compton out there,” the man behind the desk said.  “I’m still trying to figure out what he’s doing in my state. The only answer he’s given that’s checked out is that he’s been released from Sophie-Anne’s court.”

[ ](http://i1.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/stan1.jpg)

Eric led me to one of the two chairs in front of the desk, and then we sat down. I scanned the king who was oddly wearing glasses, khaki’s, and a white short sleeved button up shirt. I’d never seen a vampire with glasses before. Why would a vampire need glasses?

 _“Do vampires ever need glasses?”_  I sent to Hauk.

 _“No!”_  He sent back with mental laughter.

“Your Majesty,” Eric bowed his head.  “This is my wife, Sookie.”

“Nice to meet you, Sookie,” he replied with a nod.  “I’m the King of Texas, Stan Davis.” 

_Stanislaus Davidowitz_

“Nice to meet you too, Your Majesty,” I said with a head nod.

“If you ever get tired of this giant, come see me. I’m sure I could show you a good time,” he said with a smirk.

“I’m sorry but I’m quite attached to my husband,” I replied with smile toward Eric.

“Stop flirting with my wife,” Eric growled out.

“It’s all in good fun. It’s nice to meet the woman who finally tamed the great Eric Northman.  Now back to business, if you need any assistance, just let me know. No one kidnaps a vampire in my state, let alone one of my Sheriffs.  I know you were called in by his progeny to help locate him, but I want to be informed of any leads you receive.”

“As you wish.”

“If that is all, you may leave.  I have many more meetings tonight and one of them is with Compton,” he said the last part with a sneer.

I guess he wasn’t a fan of Bill’s either.  Good to know.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Sookie,” Stan said as he stood and walked around in front of me.

“You too, Your Highness.”

“Call me Stan,” he said, looking at Eric with a sly grin.

“Stop flirting,” Eric growled good naturally.

“I can’t help it,” Stan chuckled. “To see you attached to a human. Married!”

“Let’s go before I become the King of Texas,” Eric said, leading me out by the hand.

When we walked out we saw Bill standing in the corner of the room, so Eric nodded his head for Mason and Hauk to follow us.

“We can’t talk here. Meet us at the hotel,” Eric said when we all reached the car.

“Yes, sir,” Mason replied before quickly making his way to his own car.

“I’ll get a ride from him and give you two some privacy,” Hauk said and then vamped over to Mason’s car.

“What was that about?” Eric asked once we were on the road.

“I think Hauk likes Mason, like _likes_  him, unless it’s because you have something you need to tell me.”

“What would I have to tell you?” he asked as he laced our fingers together.

“I don’t know.  Something Stan told you?”

“You didn’t listen in?” He questioned with a quirked eyebrow.

“Nope. You know I try to give you your privacy and I was busy listening to everyone else in that enormous house.  There had to be at least thirty humans and twenty vampires.”

“I’m guessing you heard nothing if we’re talking about who Hauk might like.”

“Nothing, sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” he let out a sigh. “We have no leads as to where he is, and I can’t figure out who that vampire was there on the premises.”

“I’m sorry, honey,” I replied, putting my other hand on top of our linked hands.

“Honey?” He asked in an amused tone.

“I don’t know. I felt like I should use a term of endearment, but I don’t really have one for you, and you have so many for me. Would you rather I call you baby?”

Eric whipped his head toward me with a look of horror on his face. “Never.”

I wanted to laugh at his response but I could tell he really didn’t like it.

“What would you have me call you then besides your name?”

“Sex God?”

“Be serious. That would not have been appropriate in the situation. Did I never have any endearments for you?”

“Yes, but they were mostly when you were feeling saucy and/or horny. Not trying to make me feel better,” he said, looking out the windshield.

“What were they?  Maybe I’ll like them and start using them again.”

“Viking.”

“Adonis.”

“Sex God. Normally you’d get all possessive and add a ‘my’ in front of them,” he said with a sexy smirk.

“Did you like it when I used them?”

“Of course I did, but you can’t call me baby. I’m over a thousand years old.”

“I wouldn’t be calling you a baby or that you act like one. It’s like a different way of saying I love you.”

“I still don’t like it.”

“Okay, I’ll see if I can come up with something else. It’s not fair you got all the good ones,” I said with a fake pout.

He lifted our joined hands and kissed my hand as we pulled up to the hotel.  We made our way to our room to wait for Hauk and Mason to arrive.

Sitting down beside Eric I decided to play with him a little bit before our guests got there. He turned off his phone and sat it down on the table beside him the moment I was beside him.

“What do you think about honey buns or buttercup?” I asked, picking up his hand and playing with his fingers.

“You know I don’t mind you eating, but I don’t want to be called anything that has to do with food.”

“So no sugar-booger then?” I said as I tried to hide my smile.

“No sugar-booger,” he replied his lips twitching in an attempt to try and not smile.

“No… love muffin.?”

“No,” he said shaking his head before he snatched me from my seat next to him to deposit me on his lap and started to tickle me.

“Please no.  Stop,” I squeaked out as I tried to pry his hands from my stomach.

“You want me to stop?” he whispered next to my ear.

“Yes, please.”

“As you wish,” he said, pulling away and sitting up straight with a smirk on his face.

“Mack daddy?”

Eric chuckled silently, locking his eyes with mine.  “Where did you come up with these names?”

I pointed to my temple. “When I’ve read people.”

“This made you want to call me these names?” he asked tilting his head.

“Not until tonight. I feel like I should have something else to call you, a term of endearment.  You call me them all the time.”

“You’ll come up with something,” he said as he started to rub my back.  I laid my head down on his shoulder and tried to come up with the most ridiculous name I could think of.

“Snugglesome hugglesome?” I asked laughing into his shoulder.

Eric let out a bark of a laugh. “Please tell me you’ve never heard anyone say that before.”

“No, but it’s perfect.  You like to snuggle and hug.” I tried to say with a straight face.

“I only like those things with you and that has to be the most ridiculous name ever,” he replied.

“See it’s perfect for you.  I’m the only one who will call you it.  You know you like it, snugglesome hugglesome.”

“Now you’ve asked for it,” he said before he pinned me down on the couch.  Straddling my hips, he took both of my hands in one of his and pinned them above my head before tickling my sides.

“You can’t tickle me when you secretly love it,” I screeched.

“I can and I will,” he replied with a big smile on his face and continued his assault on me.

“Please, I might pee my pants if you continue,” I pleaded with him, but his only response was to shake his head and keep tickling me.

“I’ll do anything you want,” I half laughed, half pleaded.  “Please, Eric.  Stop,” I cried out with a laugh.

**KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK**

“Saved by the knock,” I said with a breathless laugh.  Eric grinned at me as his eyes traveled down to my lips.

“Lucky you,” he rasped, letting go of my wrists and planting a firm and promising kiss on my lips.

It only took him three strides to answer the door. Opening the door wide, Hauk, Mason, and then Quinn all stepped in, scanning the room.

“Why are you guys looking around and acting all weird?” I asked as I sat up on the couch.

“We could hear you screaming from the end of the hall,” Hauk said smirking.

“As you can see I’m fine. Eric was tickling me and I was trying to get him to stop,” I said. He sat down next to me and I gave him a mock glare/pout.

They continued to stand there only this time they were staring at us. “Do you want something to drink?” I asked as I stood and went to the mini refrigerator in the room.

I received a round of I’m fine but thanks from everyone. I needed something to drink after all of my laughing and screaming so I got a bottle of water before I went back to the couch.

“Please, everyone sit.  I don’t know about you guys but I’m tired. This feels like the longest day of my life and I’d like to get some sleep soon.”

Eric reached out and placed me on his lap, positioning us so that we could look at everyone.

“If you’re too tired you can go to bed and someone can inform you of what we talked about tomorrow,” he said quietly.

“No, I want to know what’s going on.  It shouldn’t take too long, should it?” I asked as I lay my head down on his shoulder.

“Not long at all,” he said as he wrapped one arm around me and the other started to rub my back.

“According to Mason, there’s been no suspicious activity around the house or any type of ransom demands.  I found out from my meeting with Stan this evening that he knew nothing about Godric’s disappearance until tonight.  He hasn’t heard of any other attempts or knew of anyone else missing.  The Fellowship have been unnaturally quiet the last few months in the state.”

Picking up my hand, he started playing with my fingers.  I felt him take a deep breath before letting out a heavy sigh.

“Unfortunately, we have no leads and no one really knows where to go from here. Wherever Godric is he’s blocking his bond to his child and it will be another couple of days before he can make his way here.  We need to find him before then because for all we know he could be running out of time.”

“There’s only one thing I can think to do and I don’t want to do it, but it might be our only chance to find anything out. Unless you found something tonight that I don’t know about?” he asked, looking at Mason first and then Hauk.

They both shook their heads no and looked down.

“Sookie, I think you and Quinn should go to Godric’s house during the day and see if you can find anything.  Mason can let you in when you get there.  Are you willing to do that?” he asked tilting up my chin with his thumb and forefinger.

“If you think it’s the only way then of course I’ll do it.”

“What do you think they’ll find out during the day?  Are you a private detective and I didn’t know about it?” Quinn asked the last part to me.

“Let them worry about what they can find and how.  Just make sure you do your job.”

“Okay. I get it. Something else is going on here, but you can’t talk about it right now.  I can understand that.”

“Good. Mason, I’ll program your number into Sookie’s phone in case they need anything tomorrow.  Anything else we need to talk about?”

When everyone stayed silent, Eric said.  “All right there’s less than a couple of hours until sunrise and my wife’s tired.  We’ll meet again at sunset and go from there.”

Sitting me down on the couch Eric rushed everyone out of the room before he scooped me up and deposited me on the bed before he started taking off my clothes.  Once all my clothes were off, he picked me up again and placed me under the blankets. He then quickly undressed and slid into bed behind me.

“Sleep now, my Sookie,” he said as he spooned up behind me.  He wrapped an arm and a leg around me, and then lay his head down behind me on my pillow.  “Please be safe tomorrow.  I hate that I’m putting you in danger.  If you feel uncomfortable or unsafe in any way I want you to come back to the hotel right away, no matter what.  Promise me.” His grip on me tightened and I could feel his overwhelming worry for me.

“I promise,” I said with a big yawn.  “Good night, snugglesome hugglesome.  I love you.  Always.”

“Good night, my beautiful wife,” he said, his lips caressing my ear.  He placed a kiss beneath my ear before he buried his nose in my hair.  “I love you, du är mitt allt.”


	3. One Down, One Found

“Hey,” I said the moment Eric’s eyes popped open.

“Hey yourself,” Eric replied, snaking his arm around me and pulling me on top of him. “You found a lead,” he said as a statement, not a question.

“How’d you know?” I asked, sitting up and straddling his lean hips.

His hands moved to my waist. “Could be the big smile on your face, or that you’re bubbling with excitement. What did you find?”

“So before we went to Godric’s house, we went to lunch at some barbecue place.”

“Charlie went with you,” he stated.

“Yes. How’d you know?” I asked again.

A sweet smile spread across his face as he cupped one side of my own. “I know you, and you would have been happy eating shitty drive-thru so you could try to find out any information as soon as possible.”

“That may have crossed my mind,” I said smiling. Eric knew me well, almost too well sometimes. It was hard to surprise him when it seemed he could almost read my mind.

“But it worked out for the best because as we were sitting and waiting for our food, I noticed a group of men at a table close to us. A couple of them were pretty beaten up so I decided to read that group next, and I saw Godric in one of their thoughts. These were the guys from different shifts that are guarding him, and he’s been putting up quite the fight even though he’s being restrained by silver.”

Fury and pride rushed through me as Eric let out a low growl and gripped my hips a little tighter.

Laying my hands on his chest, I stroked him soothingly while I waited for him to calm down.  His fury felt like my own; makingme want to rush out of the room and attack the people who had taken this unwilling and ancient vampire from the safety of his resting place. I felt a sense of duty to help him the same way he had helped Eric in getting rid of his Maker.

“I am sorry, dear one. I did not mean for my emotions to overwhelm you. Please forgive me and continue,” he said, caressing my cheek with his thumb.

“You have nothing to be sorry for; you only want to avenge your friend. So, the man only thought of Godric as he winced from taking a bite out of his food. I knew I needed to get him to think about Godric again.”

“How’d you do that, my smart wife?”

“Quinn probably thinks I’m crazy, unloyal to you, or worse,”  I stated looking down.

“I doubt that,” he said as his hands moved to my arms, where he started to rub up and down.

“You weren’t there and didn’t hear what I said,” I replied as tears welled up in my eyes and then silently streaked down my face.

Eric sat up as soon as the first tear spilled over and had me cradled in his arms. “Please don’t cry, Lover. I cannot bare to seeyou cry.”

Laying us down, he kept me tight to his chest as he lightly hummed for a few minutes until I calmed down enough to talk.

“Better now?” He asked, placing a kiss on the top of my head. I nodded and clutched myself to him a little tighter before I could continue.

“What did you say to get the man to think of Godric?”  He asked quietly from the top of my head.

“I quickly whispered to Charlie that I was practicing, so he’d play along. It wouldn’t have worked without him,” I said with a sniff.

“He’s a good employee… and friend to you. I’ll have to think of something to do to reward him.”

Nodding my head once again, I whispered into his chest. “You know I love you, right?”

“Yes, just as you know I love you,” he proclaimed before he pulled back and brushed his lips against mine.  “I know whatever you said was only to get information, and you didn’t mean it. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” he said quietly as he rubbed his nose against mine.

“I need to tell you… I want to before you hear it from Quinn.”

“No matter what you said I wouldn’t believe him, but if you need to then I want you to,” he said, hugging me back into his chest.

OoOoO

_Flashback_

_“I heard that Dallas has a big population of vampires. Didn’t you?” I asked Charlie._

_“Big, but not as big as New Orleans,” Charlie replied, not really knowing where I was going with my statement._

_“I was scared to go out at night and run into one or a horde of them,” I said with a dramatic shiver._

_“I don’t think you need to worry about a horde, if it’s even called that.”_

_“Not worry? Of course, I’m worried. What chance would I possibly have if I encountered one or more? They’d just glamour me and suck all of my blood out and once they were done they’d rape my lifeless body!”_

_“Where’d you hear that?”  Charlie asked me._

_“From my friends at the Fellowship. They said that vampires have no morals and care about nothing and nobody. They don’t care who they kill. They’re Satan’s spawn,” I spat the last part out for good measure._

_Quinn sat there with his mouth hanging open. Charlie, too, for a second before he came up with something to say. I didn’t really hear him though because it was in that moment the man thought of the Fellowship church and that they had captured a vampire they were doing experiments on. Someone had been telling them of every vampire weakness and how to easily capture them. He didn’t know much, only that they had given him a special gun to use during his shift._

_I could tell he was afraid of Godric now though. It was his job to give him a_ _little bit_ _of True Blood, and, a couple of nights ago, he got too close. Godric attacked him and beat him up pretty badly before the other guards got in there and subdued him._

_“I hope that I never encounter a vampire since they are all evil, but if I ever do than I’m prepared since I keep a stake in my purse at all times. Also, it looks as if we don’t have anything to worry about because it seems as if they don’t hunt people in highly populated areas.  As long as we keep doing what we were doing, we’re unlikely to run into where they live or hunt.”  It was that moment when he pictured where they were keeping Godric. It was some old warehouse._

 

[ ](http://i2.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/abandoned_warehouse.jpg)

 

_End of Flashback_

OoOoO

“I showed Hauk everything when we got back from Godric’s house.”

“You still went?” He asked, but I could tell his mind was more on the thought of the warehouse.

“What was I to do? Say I read someone’s mind at the restaurant and I sort of know where Godric is? Plus I thought there could have been a small possibility that I might find out more there, but I didn’t.”

“You did brilliantly. I’m so proud of you,” he said as he moved on top of me and kissed me until I was breathless.

I lay panting for a few moments, both of us on our sides. I watched as my breath hit Eric’s hair and made it flutter around for a brief second. He was deep in thought about the warehouses in the area.

When I finally caught my breath, I leaned over, kissed his chest, and made my way back up to his mouth. Eric smiled against my mouth before giving me a deep but short kiss.

“I’m sorry we don’t have time for something more pleasurable,” he purred out, “but we need to meet with Hauk before the sun goes down and create a plan. We have a very limited amount of hours that we can look for Godric and there are many warehouses in the area we need to check. Do you want to call him or should I?”

“I will,” I replied as I got dressed in what I thought would be appropriate clothes for the night. Black jeans, t-shirt, and tennis shoes.

“Have him bring Quinn with him,” he said as he pulled on his pants.

“Are you sure?” I asked. I didn’t want to face Quinn ever, let alone so soon.

“Don’t fret over the tiger, Lover. Are you going to want to help in the search?”

“Of course,” I responded immediately.

“Then he’ll need to come with us.”

_“Can you come to our room and bring Quinn with you?” I asked Hauk._

_“We’ll be there in a minute,”_  he responded with amusement in his tone.

 _“_ I want you to know now that  _when_  we find Godric, you will stay where I tell you with Quinn. I need you to promise me this. It is likely we are going into a dangerous situation and if I’m worried about you and keeping you safe…”

“I know,” I interrupted. “I promise to do whatever you say.”

He pulled me into a tight hug. “Thank you. It eases my mind somewhat. I wish I didn’t need your help and could keep you somewhere far away and safe.”

“I know you do,” I said, hugging him back.

**KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK**

Moving quickly to the door, Eric let Hauk and Quinn inside. We all sat down in the same places as last night, except this time I wasn’t on Eric’s lap but beside him.

I curled up against him at the hate-filled look and thoughts Quinn was sending my way.

“If you do not quit sending those looks to my Bonded I will gouge out your eyeballs,” Eric snarled.

“You have no idea who the person is you’ve married,” Quinn rebuked.

“Don’t I?  You think I don’t know what she did or said today?”

Eric turned toward me, taking my hands into both of his. “Do you trust me?” He asked, his eyes and our bond full of trust and love.

“You know I do.”

“I know. Thank you,” he replied, bringing my hand up and kissing it before he brought our hands down to his lap.

He turned once again, this time toward Hauk. They had a silent conversation, or more like a one-sided silent conversation, staring at one another before Hauk gave him a nod.

“What I’m about to tell you doesn’t go beyond this room. If I ever have the slightest inclination that you’ve told or are going to tell anyone, I’ll kill you. No questions asked. Can I trust you with this secret?”

Quinn looked around the room at each of us for a long minute. I hadn’t been reading him and I wasn’t going to start now. I didn’t want to hear his thoughts and be worrying all night about what he thought of me. Right before he responded, Hauk gave a slight nod.

“You can trust me,” he told Eric.

“Good. Don’t fail to heed my warning. No one will be able to save you if you betray me or mine. Sookie is a telepath, and what she did today was to get information out of a Fellowship member who thought about Godric during your lunch and discovered his location.”

Quinn’s purple eyes landed on me.

_You can really read my mind?_

I smiled, “Yes, I can really read your mind.”

_My last girlfriend’s name was Bonnie_ _and_ _she was a werelynx._

“Your last girlfriend was a werelynx named Bonnie. Do you believe me or do you want to keep testing me?”

“Sophie Ann was right then,” he stated.

“You are aware that my wife has amnesia,” Eric reminded as Quinn nodded. “At the time, Sookie could not read  _anyone’s_  mind.  You do understand what could happen if Sophie Ann or any vampire found out what she could do?”

“I had been around the palace for about a month before she came to visit you. I didn’t know exactly what she had planned but during the day, she had workers preparing a room for a new guest who was coming to live at the palace. She always had all the workers clear out about an hour before sunset so that the vampires who were there wouldn’t know what she had happening. I knew it was something big though. I’m glad that she didn’t get her hands on you,” Quinn said to me. “I should have realized that you really are a telepath when certain things started not adding up. You have my word that I will never utter a word about your talent.”

“Thank you,” I gave him a grateful smile.

“Is that why you’ve stayed in Shreveport?” He asked Hauk.

A smirk spread across Hauk’s face before he gave a deep nod.

“Now that that’s out of the way, we need to discuss our plan to find Godric. Sookie said you saw the warehouse from her…”

“Hold up! How’d you see it from her?” Quinn exclaimed before he jumped up and started pacing. “Can you… ”

“Yes,” Hauk said with the smirk still on his face before he turned to Eric and got serious. “I believe he’s in one of the warehouses that are located on the Northwest side of town, but I have no idea which one since they all look so much alike.”

“I think when we get there we’ll need to split up. You should both be able to find his brain signature.” Hauk and I both nodded. “I’ll need to inform the King once we are on our way. I don’t want to waste any time. Sookie is to remain outside any building that I go into, no matter what. Are we clear?”

“Yes,” Quinn and I said in unison.

“Good, then if you need to get anything to prepare for tonight, go now. We’ll meet downstairs in five minutes.”

OoOoO

We had been driving for almost forty minutes before we reached the area where warehouse after warehouse continued on formiles. It was decided that we would start in the middle with Eric, Quinn, and I going to the right and Hauk going to the left. Hauk was confident that I would be able to reach him telepathically if we found Godric. Both Eric and Hauk carried backpacks filled with blood for him.

I kept my shields completely down in order to not miss a thing. After the first hour, I was becoming tired from all the quick walking we did and casting out for any feelers. After asking how long it might take us to walk through all the warehouses because I was getting tired, I was promptly put on Eric’s back, and for the next hour and a half we kept looking before I finallycaught a brainwave that wasn’t Quinn’s.

“I found something,” I said against Eric’s ear. “They’re about another mile up ahead I think.”

“Can you tell how many yet?” Eric asked as he sped up.

“Six,” I replied, clutching tighter in the hopes that we had found Godric.

As we approached, I searched for Godric and tried to place where each brain signature was located. I easily found the ancient vampire who was my husband’s friend.

“He’s in the back far right-hand corner of the building. There are two guards outside his door, two at the front entrance, and one at the back entrance on the other side of the building opposite him.”

Eric silently sat me down on my feet when we were on the other side of the road from where Godric was located.

“Let Hauk know we have found him. I may need help subduing him depending on how injured  he is. Hopefully I have enough blood with me so that he’ll be in control from his hunger and injuries.”

Grasping my face between his large hands, he caressed both my cheeks with his thumbs. “Stay here, no matter what.”

“I know,” I said, nodding. I knew it was dangerous and I didn’t want him to worry. “I promise.”

Eric smiled and brushed his lips against mine. “I love you,” he said, closing his eyes as he rested his forehead on mine.

“I love you, too. Be careful.”

“Always,” he replied, grabbing up the backpack and zipping off.

I sat down on the curb, staring off into the night. I couldn’t see anything, and since this whole area was abandoned there weren’t even streetlights on.

Not wanting to see Eric more than likely kill all of the humans in the building, I stayed out of his head, but I followed his void so that I knew where he was as Quinn stood beside me keeping watch.

“Can you see the building?” I asked as my legs bounced in nervousness.

“Yeah, I can see it. Are they on their way back?”

I shook my head.

“Are you worried about him?” He asked, looking down at me with furrowed brows.

“Why wouldn’t I be worried about him?”

Quinn looked at me as if my head was missing. “He’s a very old vampire. He can take care of himself. Hell, they say he was a Viking.”

“Someone was able to abduct a vampire who is over two-thousand-years old. If they can get him, it’s possible to apprehend Eric. I don’t want anything bad to happen to him!  I’ll stop worrying when he’s standing in front of me.”

“He at least has a heads up that they have some way of taking vampires down.”

“Shh, he’s reached Godric!”

Quinn tried to quietly chuckle next to me. “They can’t hear us.”

“I know that but I’m keeping track of where he’s at and I want to concentrate.”

We sat quietly for a couple more minutes before I felt Eric and Godric start to move. I stood up in anticipation of seeing them walking side by side out of the darkness. Instead I felt a deep burning pain bore into my shoulder, right before another hit me just below my heart.

I crumpled into the street, grasping my nonexistent wounds as I cried. Almost as soon as it began, it was gone. I took a deepbreath as I scrambled to get up and make my way toward Eric. Hot, thick, strong arms grabbed me by the waist and held me against a body that was all wrong. I kicked, clawed, and screamed to be let go.

“Sookie, you promised to stay here. You…”

“He’s hurt badly. He’s shut down the bond. We need to save him!”

“No,” he said roughly in my ear. “How would he feel if you went in there and got hurt?”

“We need to help!” I pleaded. I could faintly make out some type of shrill noise that kept going off, over and over. I continued to scream and fight as I felt my body being shifted around.

“I don’t know what happened. Sookie fell to the ground as if she was in pain but now she’s fighting me to let her go. She wantsto go in and save him! Sookie,” I heard the last part being repeated in my ear. “It’s Pam and she wants to know what happened.”

“I don’t know. He’s blocking me completely.  Pam, you have to come! I don’t know what to do,” I sobbed out. “He’s hurt. Please help.” I said as I broke down sobbing.

“Shit, I gotta go,” Quinn let out as a sigh. “There’s someone carrying Northman out.  This can’t be good,” he said in utterdisbelief. “I’ll let them know you’re on your way.”

“No!” I screamed while fighting even harder against Quinn. “Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!”

“Give her to me,” I heard from my left. I tried to push away as Quinn tried to hand me off to Hauk without hurting me until I heard his calming voice in my head.

_“Stop. I can’t have you running over to him quite yet. We don’t know if Godric’s had enough blood to withstand wanting to feed from you. We don’t know how hurt he was. Let me assess the situation and then you can see your husband. Can you do that for me?” Hauk asked as he placed me down on the ground._

“What the hell are you thinking? I’ve been restraining her for the last five minutes,” Quinn growled.

“She’s fine now. She knows she has to wait. Quickly, go get the car and meet us back here.”

“Fine. If anything happens to her it’s your fault.”

“Look right there, Sookie,” he said as he pointed off to the right. “You’ll see him in just a minute. Godric’s got him.”

“I don’t want anyone to have him,” I cried. “I want him to be walking to me on his own.”

“I know you do. Don’t be alarmed when you see him. He’s going to be fine. I promise you.”

Out of the darkness walked a man who looked too short to be carrying anyone of Eric’s height. If he hadn’t been a vampire, hewould have crumbled with the amount of weight that was atop his shoulders.

I started to take a step until I felt Hauk’s hand on my shoulder. “Just a moment longer,” he assured me.

I nodded as I wiped the tears from my eyes so that I could get a better look, but before they got close enough for me to see, Quinn pulled up with the car. He quickly jumped out and opened the back door.

Godric swooped into my car and laid Eric against the door on the other side before gracefully exiting.

“Get in,” he commanded.

I stumbled into the car and made my way over to Eric. Gasping at my husband before me, I lightly trailed my hands across his face and started to sob once more.

“Eric, please wake up,” I pleaded with him as I took in the damage that had been done to him.

He had multiple bullet wounds to his chest and his face had been slightly burned.

[ ](http://i2.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/burned.jpg)

“Don’t do this to me,” I pleaded as sobs tore through my chest. “Wake up.”

“It’s best if he stays as he is for right now until we get some blood into him. You don’t want him to be feeling the pain he’d be in,do you?” A gentle voice said to me.

Until that moment, I hadn’t noticed that there was anyone else in the car with us. Godric was driving, while Hauk sat in the passenger seat, and Quinn sat beside me looking worried.

Sitting forward, I thrust my arm in front of Hauk’s face. “Bite,” I commanded, not quite as forcefully as I would have liked with a sniff, followed by a hiccup.

Hauk pushed my arm and me back into the backseat. “You know I can’t do that. It’s a blood offense. We’re headed to Godric’s and we’ll get a donor for him. It’s too dangerous for him to feed from you with the amount of injuries he’s sustained.”

“Unfortunately Eric won’t feed from anyone unless it’s his wife,” Godric stated.

“No one has to tell him,” Hauk said exasperatedly. “Surely to save his life you’d let him, wouldn’t you, Sookie?”

“Of course I would. I tried before when he got hurt.” I tightened my hold on him as I lightly laid my head against his uninjured shoulder.

“We cannot trick him. He would feel as if he’s betrayed his vow to his wife, his Bonded. He lives by his word,” Godric said, glancing back at us.

We were all quiet the rest of the way to Godric’s house. The only sounds were my sniffs and whispered words to Eric telling him how much I loved him.

When we reached the house, everything happened almost too fast for me to comprehend.

Godric once again lifted Eric up as if he weighed little more than a feather before he quickly rushed him into the house. I tried to follow but he was too fast for my eyes to make out where he’d taken Eric. I was almost on the verge of a breakdown when Hauk guided me through the house and into a bedroom where Eric was laying.

[ ](https://gyllene76.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/eyes-closed-only.jpg)

I crawled onto the bed and sat next to Eric brushing his hair out of his face. I was becoming highly anxious when Godric walked into the room with four bottles of True Blood in his hands.

Opening Eric’s mouth, I poured bottle after bottle into his mouth with no success of him waking up.

“Why isn’t he healing or waking up?” I asked as I looked at Godric and Hauk who were stationed on the other side of the room talking quietly.

“It will take a little longer for the True Blood to start working.  It’s doesn’t work as well as human blood,” Godric replied as he walked over to the foot of the bed.

“Where’s the kitchen?” I asked as I stood and walked to the door.

Everyone in the room had an odd look on their faces when I turned around waiting for an answer.

“When you get to the top of the stairs take a left and follow along the hallway, it will be on your right,” Godric finally replied.  “Is there something I can get you?” he asked perplexed.

“No, thank you. I’ll be right back,” I said as I quickly left the room and made my way up the stairs.

[ ](http://i2.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/kitchen-godric.png)

For a brief moment when I walked into the kitchen, I was in awe of how beautiful it was before I quickly snapped myself out of that type of thinking.  I could admire Godric’s house when Eric was awake and better, not when he was laying downstairs unconscious.  I hurriedly looked through the drawers until I found what I was looking for and made my way back downstairs.

I knew that if I told them what I was about to do they’d stop me but Eric was my husband and I was going to take care of him, no matter what.

Moving quickly, I made my way over to the bed and climbed up until I was beside Eric once more.  I swiftly took the knife I had found upstairs and cut into my wrist until blood started to flow out of my wound.  Growls erupted from behind me but I wouldn’t let that stop me from helping my Bonded.

I placed my wrist to his lips and let my blood flow into his mouth.  It only took a minute before he started to suck on my wound. After another few moments, his hands reached up and held my arm in place.  Hauk and Godric rushed to the side of the bed in case they needed to pry my arm from Eric’s grip, but I wasn’t worried. I knew that he would never hurt me and would stop before he took too much.

My free hand caressed his face and ran through his hair as I tried to soothe him as best as I could.  I couldn’t tell how much pain he was in since he had cut off our bond after the first initial hits at the warehouse, and he was still blocking me from his mind. All I knew was that he was still in control somewhat if he could continue to block himself.

Eric’s grip on my arm loosened and I felt his tongue glide along my cut.  It started to tingle and I knew that Eric had cut his tongue to heal my wound.  I was expecting his eyes to open but instead his arms fell to the bed.

Tears filled my eyes as my hope sunk.  Why wasn’t he waking up?

“Sookie,” Hauk said quietly from beside me.  “The sun rose just a few moments ago.  He won’t be waking up until sunset tomorrow night, but he’s healing now.” He nodded his head toward Eric and his eyes examined him.  “I can’t believe you cut yourself. What if he tried to drain you?”

“I knew he wouldn’t. He’d never hurt me.”  I looked around the room and noticed Quinn sitting in a chair, but Godric was gone. “Where’s Godric?”

“He left when he heard Pamela pull up and they have both gone  to rest for the day. Pamela is still too young to resist the pull of the sun and Godric was still in need of rest to recover from his injuries.  You, yourself, need to try and get some rest.  You’ve had an exhausting night.  I’ll take Quinn and show him to where he’ll be staying.  Will you be okay?” he asked worriedly.

“He’s going to be okay, right?” I asked as I continued to run my fingers through Eric’s hair. Almost all of the burns had disappeared from his face but I knew that they were least of his injuries.

Hauk nodded before he rose from the bed.  “I promise he’ll be fine, but you need to get some rest.  He won’t be happy to know that you made yourself sick from crying and no sleep.”

“How can I rest until I know he’s going to be okay?”

“Can you at least try for him?” he asked with another nod.

“I’ll try.”

“That’s all I ask.  If you need anything, call for me and I’ll hear you,” he said with a small smile.

“Me too,” Quinn said as he stood from the chair he’d been sitting in. “You’ve got my number.”

“Thanks, guys,” I said as I watched them walk out the door and close it.

I laid down beside Eric holding his hand, still crying, and hoping he’d be okay.  I wouldn’t truly know until he rose tomorrow night. After laying there for what felt like the entire day, I finally fell into a light, distressful sleep.


	4. The Unexpected

I awakened still snuggled up to Eric’s side, but I could tell that we weren’t alone. Whoever was in the room was asleep. Turning my head to look over my shoulder, I saw Quinn slumped over in a chair, asleep.

What the hell was he doing in here? If Eric woke up for the night and found Quinn in here, he might just end his life.

_“Hauk,” I called out telepathically._

_“Sookie, are you okay?” He asked, responding immediately._

_“I’m fine. I was just wondering why I woke up to Quinn in my room.”_

_“I guess he doesn’t like his job and wants to die,” he chuckled.  “I don’t know why. Haven’t seen him all day. Why don’t you ask him?”_

_“He’s asleep in the corner.”_

_“Wake his ass up before your husband ‘wakes’ for the night.”_

_“What time is it?” I asked. I hadn’t brought my phone or anything else down with me last night and I didn’t see a clock.  Vampires seemed to never have clocks around.  I guess I wouldn’t either if I had an internal clock telling me the time of day or night._

_“About twenty minutes until sunset,” Hauk replied._

_“Eric should be up already,” I said as I started to panic. “He’s normally up around an hour before sunset.”_

_“That may be the case_ normally _, but he was injured last night and needed to heal.  Don’t start worrying yet.”_

_“Too late.”_

_“Trust me. He’ll be fine until he finds a tiger in his resting place.”_

_“Should I try to wake him? Quinn, I mean,” I asked._

_“Shit, I don’t know. I want to say yes, but what if you startle him and he attacks you or shifts? Don’t do anything unless he wakes up. If he does wake up, tell him to get the hell out of there!”_

_“What if you came in here?” I asked, thinking that it might be better if Hauk came in and woke him up or got him out of the roomsomehow._

_“No, vampires don’t want anyone in their resting place, let alone two people. I don’t even know where you live. Do you think Eric wants me in the room while he’s asleep?”_

_“No, I guess not,” I replied._

_“If you need anything, call for me. Otherwise I’m staying out of there until he wakes up.”_

_“Thanks, Hauk.”_

_“No problem. Now stop worrying. I’d say go get something to eat, but…”_

_“Since Quinn’s in here. Yeah, you know, I won’t leave him alone with Eric while he sleeps. I’m not leaving until Eric wakes up.”_

_“I know you’re not,” he sighed and then faded away._

I laid down as lightly as I could on Eric’s chest and wrapped my arm around him as I closed my eyes and waited for Eric to wake up.

I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up, I heard voices whispering furiously. I knew it wasn’t Eric because he was still underneath me. There was no noise coming from his chest and he still hadn’t moved.

Sitting up carefully so that I wouldn’t disturb Eric, I saw Pam only inches away from Quinn. The sight before me was comical.Quinn was around a foot taller and broader than Pam with his massive body, but it was as if she was looming over him as she threatened his life.

“Pam,” I called out quietly.

Quinn and Pam both stopped and turned their heads toward me with wide eyes.  Seeing these two almost made me giggle until I saw the worried look on Pam’s face.

Pam walked over to the bed, sat down beside me, and pulled me into a hug.  We were friends, good friends at that, but I never remembered Pam hugging me.

“What time is it?” I asked from her shoulder.

“Thirty minutes after sun down,” she replied as she pulled away and looked over at Eric.

“Shouldn’t he be awake by now?” I asked. My eyes raked over his bloody shirt as I counted four bullets holes.

“Give him time,” Pam said as she rose from the bed and placed a hand on my shoulder. “He needs time to heal. When he wakes he’ll be fine.  Now,” she said while she turned toward Quinn, “why are you in my Master’s resting place?”

“I came to protect Sookie.  I wanted to make sure that your  _Master_  didn’t attack her when he rose for the night. My job’s to protect her,” he uttered defiantly.

“My Master would never hurt Sookie.  _Never_. If he did attack her, do you really think you could have stopped him?  You’re no match for him,” she sneered.

“I sure as hell would have tried and I’m stronger than you’d like to recognize,” he spat back.

I could see that this could go on all night.  Luckily, my stomach let out a loud rumble causing both of them to look at me.

“You need to eat,” Pam said blandly, looking at me once again.

“I’ll eat after Eric wakes up. I want to be here when he wakes up,” I said, moving to be closer by his side.

“Sookie, he’s not going to like the fact that you starved yourself to sit by his side while he’s dead to the world.”

“You know I don’t like you saying that!” I looked over my shoulder at her with a glare.  “It doesn’t matter what you say, I’m not leaving,” I said, turning back to Eric.

“What if I bring some food to you?” Quinn said from across the room.  “I can smell that Charlie or someone is cooking upstairs and I know I could sure eat something.  I’ll make you a plate and bring it down.  Sound like a plan?”

“Thank you, Quinn.  I’d really appreciate it.”

“Not a problem. I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he replied.

“I’m going to go see if Godric’s off the phone with Stan Davis and if he knows anything that will help us figure out who helped the humans capture him.  Call if you need anything,” Pam said, leaving me alone with my husband.

Looking down, he looked as he always did when he was sleeping.  He looked so peaceful except for the blood and his torn clothes.

I laid back down with my head on Eric’s chest as tears stung my eyes.  Deep down, I knew that Eric was going to be okay, but the fact that he hadn’t woken up yet let me know just how injured he’d become last night. Crawling up higher, I laid my head in the crook of his neck as my tears spilled over.  I’d only been silently crying for no more than two minutes when long, strong arms wrapped around me, and I was flooded with love, calm, and reassurance.

“Min älskade, don’t cry.  You know how I hate your tears,” he said softly into my hair as he hugged me tighter to him.

“Eric,” I breathed out with relief as I pulled out of his embrace to look at him.  I wanted to see his beautiful blue eyes and the life in them.

With a smile so broad it felt like my face might burst, my heart felt like it was about ready to leap out of my chest with howhappy I was to hear his words, to feel his arms around me, and having the bond back. I sat on top of Eric and cradled his face in my hands.  Eric had a smile that lit up his face as he looked up at me.

“I’m not hurting you, am I?” I asked, realizing that if he wasn’t fully healed, I might be causing him pain.

“No, dear one, you’re not hurting me.” His smile faded from his face.  “You’ve been upset for a quite some time.  Tell me,” he commanded softly as he pulled me down to lay on top of him.

“I’ve only been crying for a couple of minutes,” I mumbled into his chest.

“You cried before then. Your eyes are bloodshot and swollen, and your face is tear stained,” he said. His chest rumbled underneath my ear as one hand ran through my hair and the other rubbed my back, soothing my frayed nerves.

“Last night,” I replied as tears sprang back up.  I closed my eyes so that no tears would escape. My arms tightened around him, threatening to never let him go.  “I was so worried about you.  You were unconscious and you looked so…” I couldn’t continue without becoming upset and sobbing.

“It’s okay.  I understand.  No more crying.  I’m fine now,” he replied before he started to hum and continued to run his hand through my hair.

Laying on his chest, listening to the deep sound coming from his chest helped calm and relax me.

We stayed like that until Quinn walked into the room with a plate full of food. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw that Eric was awake and growling at him.

“I didn’t know you were awake. Sorry, Sheriff. I brought Sookie something to eat since she didn’t want to leave your side until you woke up. Should I tell everyone that you’re awake?” He said as he placed a plate with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn bread down on the nightstand.

Eric’s fangs had snicked down and his grip on me had become tighter, but his growling had stopped.

“Let’s let Sookie eat before we meet with everyone. ” He sat up with me and then placed me down beside him on the bed before he reached over and handed me my plate of food.

“You need to eat,” he said to me in a tone where I knew there’d be no discussion.

“Since my lovely wife is eating for the first time today, maybe you can tell me why you’ve been in my resting place today andwhy Pam is here,” Eric said with narrowed eyes.

I could see Quinn visibly gulp as he took in Eric’s expression. He stood at the end of the bed and cleared his throat.

“Pam called Sookie’s phone after she felt pain coming from you, and then your Maker/Child bond fell silent. Sookie was in no state to be answering the phone, if she even heard it,” he said, giving me a questionable look.

Eric looked over at me with concern but didn’t say anything.

“You should have told me how strong she is. It was all I could do to keep her back without harming her.”

“She does have the blood of a vampire who is over a thousand years old running through her.”

I looked down at my plate and continued to eat although I could feel both of their eyes on me.

“I’m not apologizing. You were hurt,” I finally replied, looking him dead in the eyes. “It better not ever happen again.”

“I wish I could promise you that, but forever is a long time to promise not to get hurt, Lover.”

After giving my temple a kiss, he looked at Quinn waiting for him to continue his story.

“I answered her phone because it kept going off and I thought it might be you, but it was Pam. She wanted to know what had happened. I finally got Sookie to talk to her. How Pam knew what she was saying is beyond me.”

“Were you in pain?” He asked. I could feel his regret and loathing at the thought of causing me pain.

“No, you were quick to turn it all off,” I promised him, shaking my head.

“She wasn’t in pain. She was fighting me, screaming, and crying. She informed Pam that you were hurt, she didn’t know what was going on, and wanted her to come and help. That was when I saw Godric carrying you. I informed Pam I’d let someone know she was coming and she showed up just before dawn.”

I had finished inhaling my breakfast/lunch and had just put my plate back on the nightstand when Eric picked me up and placed me in his lap. I snuggled into his chest and our bond as he wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled my neck.

“I’m so sorry for putting you through that, dear one. I hate that you felt even an ounce of pain,” he said quietly at my ear.

“I know and it’s okay,” I said, placing a kiss on his chest.  “It would have been so much worse if I wasn’t there though.  I can’timagine what I would have done if you had gone by yourself and…”

Eric enveloped me even more into his embrace, placing soft kisses along my neck.

“Would you like to be alone?” Quinn asked.

“Actually yes we would, but only after you explain to me why you’ve been in my resting place,” Eric said, lifting his head from my neck.

“Well,” Quinn started before he had to clear his throat. “My job is to protect her and there was a… possibility that when you rose for the night,” he stopped talking for a moment when he saw my bad look.

Eric chuckled and rocked me back and forth. “Give him a break. He doesn’t know all of the things you don’t like said about vampires. He’s using common terminology.”

“You’re not dead,” I stated and went back to snuggling against his chest.

“Many would disagree with you, Lover,” he said with a small smile. His smile faded and eyes narrowed as he turned back toward Quinn. “There’s nothing that would ever make me harm my wife, the woman who I’ve chosen to bond and pledge to,” he growled out, causing Quinn to take a step back.

“I understand that you don’t  _want_  to hurt her; I just wanted to be here in case…”

“You would not have been able to stop me even if I did attack her,” he snarled. His lips had curled up showing even more fang.

“I was only trying to do my job. If I was going to try to kill you, I wouldn’t do it while you’re dead for the day.  After seeing how much she cares about you last night, I would only kill you if I had no other choice.”

Feeling Eric’s whole body tense, I decided that Quinn had better get out of here before Eric killed him for saying the wrong thing.  It was sweet of Quinn to be worried about me, but he should have known that coming in here was a bad idea.

“Why don’t you tell the others that we’ll be up after Eric gets a shower and changed?” I said to Quinn, trying to give him an out from this situation.

“Sure. Charlie and I are going to go back to the hotel. Call us if you need anything,” Quinn said, keeping his eye on Eric. It seemed as if he had just realized his predicament.

“Check out of the hotel and get everyone’s luggage. We’ll all be here for the remainder of our stay. I’ll be showing Sookie the security system and we won’t have to worry about intruders coming into our room.”

“Whatever you say, boss,” Quinn mumbled angrily as he walked out of the room.

“Would you like to join me in the shower?” Eric asked as he stood with me and carried me into the bathroom.

“Do I have a choice?” I giggled as I started to strip out of my clothes.

Promptly turning toward me, Eric cupped my face in his large calloused hands.

“You always have a choice.  _Always_ ,” he said, becoming serious.

“I know I do,” I said, looking up into eyes that were begging me to see the truth. “I do.”

Reaching up on tippy toes, I kissed him slowly, pushing my love and trust for him through the bond.

“I love you, snugglesome hugglesome,” I said wanting to lighten the serious mood he was in and the mood we would all likely be in as we discussed what happened with Godric and Eric.

A smile lit up his face as he chuckled and pulled me into the shower.

“As I love you,” he proclaimed before claiming my lips in a deep kiss. Pulling back when I needed to breath, he grabbed some body wash and started to wash me until I caught his wrists in my hands and smiled up at him.

“I want to wash you and take care of you,” I said quietly as the memories of last night flickered through my mind.

He was still mostly dry with blood and dirt caked in places. I pushed him under the spray and then lathered my hands with soap.  My hands lightly washed away the blood from his now nonexistent wounds.

“Can I ask you something?” I asked as I moved to washing his rock hard stomach.

“You know you can ask me anything,” he lifted my chin with his index finger until I was looking up at him. “You never have toask even if you’re afraid it may hurt me.”

“I know,” I said lightly, shaking my head. “I wasn’t thinking.  Sorry. I wanted to know why you’ve been showing your affection for me in front of Quinn.”

“It doesn’t make you uncomfortable, does it?” He asked, stopping my hands with his own.

“No, but you’ve always told me that you’d have to act differently in front of others and I thought it would include him,” I explained.

Leaning down Eric planted a sweet, tender kiss to my lips before he let go of my hands and straightened to his full height. I continued to wash away the dirt and grime as I waited for him to speak.

Grabbing the body wash, Eric once again started to clean my shoulders and back.

“I see no reason to hide how I feel about you in front of the Tiger.  If he is to be your bodyguard then he will be around frequently, and we shouldn’t have to hide how we feel or act toward one another,” he explained as his hand moved down in between my legs.

“Me neither,” I moaned out as he dipped one finger inside of me.

“The time for talking is over” he said as he hiked my leg around his hip and pushed me against the cold shower wall.

I let out a small shriek and my back arched away from the cold wall before Eric picked me up by my thighs and impaled me with his thick, hard erection.

I locked my arms around his neck and threw my head back at the sensation of being completely filled by him.  Eric kept his thrusts long and slow as he’d pull out almost to the tip before slowly filling me again with each delicious inch of his magnificentcock.

OoOoO

“Pam is waiting very impatiently upstairs, so we should hurry before she decides to temporarily forget that you don’t appreciate her seeing you naked,” he said as he pulled on a t-shirt and watched me try to frantically get dressed.

“You’ll tell me if she’s coming, right?” I asked worriedly. Someone had put a change of clothes out both Eric and I. Unfortunately for me they were only a pair of boxers and t-shirt, so I had to wear yesterday’s bra and underwear.

“I won’t let her in if she tries,” he replied as he watched me get dressed.

I quickly threw on the clothes that were left out and pulled my hair in a ponytail until our luggage arrived.

I walked over to Eric and he spread his legs for me to stand in between them. He hugged me to him as he lay his head on my chest. I wrapped my arms around him as best as I could and we stayed that way for a few moments in silence as we enjoyed the closeness of each other and the feelings of our bond.

Eric was the first to disengage and I gave him a fake pout as I stepped away.

“The faster we get upstairs and everyone’s up to date then the quicker we can enjoy ourselves later,” he said as he rose from the bed and held out his hand for me.

“I’ll hold you to it,” I responded, taking his hand and lacing our fingers together.  We quickly made our way upstairs and to theliving room where Godric, Pam, and Hauk were waiting.

The front door swung open with Charlie carrying a couple of suitcases and Quinn loaded down with the rest.

“You can set everything down there,” Godric motioned to the wall, “and join us. We’re just about ready to begin.”

“I see you finally decided to grace the rest of us with your presence,” Pam said irritability when she caught sight of us.

“I’m sorry, Pam. I didn’t mean to monopolize his time. You should have come down to see Eric,” I replied.  I hadn’t thought about how Pam would feel.  Of course, she would have wanted to see Eric once he was up for the night.  My eyes filled with tears as I thought about how selfish I had been.

Eric pulled me down onto his lap in one of the chairs that wasn’t already occupied.

“No more tears, dear one.  You have nothing to feel badly about.  Pam knew that I was fine and was only trying to embarrass you since it took us so long to make it upstairs.  She’s the one who should feel badly for upsetting you,” he explained as he wiped away a tear that had escaped.

“I had no idea she’d react this way,” Pam said with shock.

“Last night was difficult and Sookie’s still a little emotional, but we need to talk about what happened last night and when Godric was taken,” Eric said, pulling me back to his chest.

“Yes, what happened? How did you… what happened to you?” Pam asked looking at Eric.

“I had killed three of the five humans who were guarding Godric with no problem. I released Godric and gave him the blood I had brought for him to drink. Once he had finished off the blood we set out to kill the remaining two at the front of the building. There must have been an alarm that I triggered as I made my way to where Godric was being held.

“I was in the lead when they started shooting at us, and I pushed Godric into the room we had just passed. I knew he wasn’t fully recovered and thought I’d have no problem taking out two humans. They had semi-automatic rifles that I thought were shooting regular bullets. That was until I got shot by one. These were no ordinary weapons. They were wooden bullets encased with silver and silver bullets that somehow had UV light in them. I killed the first human after I had gotten shot, and then the second guard pulled out some sort of UV flashlight and pointed it in my face, making it so I couldn’t see and wasgetting burned as he shot at me.

“Godric came out and killed him before I received a wooden bullet to the chest. The next thing I knew, I was ‘waking up’ tonight, we’re at Godric’s, and Pam’s here.”

After a moment of silence Eric asked, “Who’d you leave in charge of Fangtasia and Area Five on such short notice?”

Pam and the rest of us except Godric sat dumbfounded for a few moments as we let the information we had just heard sink in. How had they come up with these weapons and who had helped them? Could the Fellowship alone have pulled this off?

“Thalia’s in charge and everyone knows not to fuck with her,” Pam said almost smugly.

“Did you tell her not to kill anyone? I can’t have her killing anyone who makes her angry,” Eric responded.

“Of course I did.”

“Good. I’ll need to inform Sophie Ann that I’ve left Thalia in charge until we are back in the Area.”

“Just how long is that going to be?” Pam asked, looking at her nails.

“Until we catch whoever abducted Godric.”

“How did they manage to capture you, Godric?” Hauk asked.

Godric looked at each one of us and then let out a deep sigh, “I had just risen for the night and was lax in checking my surroundings. The alarm was fine, it hadn’t been triggered in any way,” he said, shaking his head. “When I opened the door tocome upstairs they were waiting for me. If I didn’t change the downstairs code every few days, it’s possible they could have gotten down there as well. You should all know that my  security has already been upgraded and anyone who’s staying will have to be added to the system. There are also different levels. If you’re not a vampire, it will not let you downstairs without the authorization of a vampire also putting in his or her code directly after yours.”

I understood why he had set up this level of security, but I didn’t like what it meant for me.

“Don’t worry, Sookie,” Godric said kindly to me. “You have honorary vampire status here. We all know you’d never harm us unless we intended harm on your Bonded.”

“Thank you for the honor, Godric. I understand the level of security, but I was worried I wouldn’t get to sleep with Eric.”

Godric gave me a soft smile and a nod.

“I think you’re the only human who  _wants_ to sleep in bed with a vampire,” Charlie snorted. “No offense,” he said, cringing as he looked around the room full of mostly vampires.

“Most vampires would never let a human into their actual bed, let alone allow them to stay in their resting place,” Pam said with a disgusted look on her face.

Pam did not think highly of most humans and couldn’t imagine trusting one enough to let into her bed, she had told me. Unless it was me and she knew, Eric nor I would ever go for it.

“What else can you tell us about the night you were abducted?” Eric asked, wanting to get us back on track.

“They had guns, silver nets, and some sort of portable UV lamps.  They turned on the lamps as I opened the door and then threw the nets on me.  I was incapacitated after that and then I was hauled off into a car that was parked in the garage,” Godric explained.

“If they got into the garage and the house they had to have a way in, your security codes, something,” Eric replied trying to reason out how they had gotten in.  “When we arrived and checked the house, I got the scent of four humans and one vampire that smelled familiar to me, but I haven’t been able to place who it was.  Did you by any chance get a look at who it was?”

Godric was quiet as he stared out the window for a minute. When he looked back at Eric, I could see the betrayal, anger, and sorrow on his face.  Whoever it was, it was someone close to him.  Too bad I couldn’t remember anything about the ancient vampire to even give me a hint at who it could possibly be.

“You know who it was,” Eric stated as his body tensed up.  I could feel that he wanted to find whoever it was and torture them for what they’d done to Godric.  All our eyes were on the young looking, but ancient vampire.

“Who was it?” Eric asked when it didn’t seem like Godric was going to let us in on who had betrayed him.

“Nora.”


	5. Resignation

“It was Nora,” Godric lightly growled.  “Valken’s child.”

_Who the hell are Nora and Valken?_

“She could never get over her jealousy of how much her Maker loves you,” Eric said pulling me closer to him.

“So she somehow decided that if she got rid of you,” I said looking at Godric,” her Maker would love her more?”

“Nora’s never thought clearly where her Maker’s involved,” Godric replied solemnly.

“Obviously, if she thinks having the Fellowship kidnap you was going to help her get into his good graces.” I shook my head at the stupidity of it all.  “What was her plan?  Do you think it was her who helped them out with the weapons?” I asked.

“No,” Godric said, shaking his head sadly.  “Nora doesn’t have the resources to pull together new weapon technology.”

“Who does?” Pam asked.

“I have no idea, but we have to find out and stop them,” Godric replied.

“Do you know where to find Nora?” Eric asked.

“Unfortunately, I don’t.  I wasn’t even aware that she was in Texas.”

“Should we call for Valken to help find her?” Eric asked hesitantly.

“Let’s wait for now.  It will pain him greatly to find out what Nora has done.  I’m assuming  it was him who called for you to find me?”  Eric gave a deep nod but said nothing.  “I should call him while I have a chance before he dies for the day.  Let’s all take a break while I call my child to let him know I’m alright and it will give you an opportunity to show Sookie  the house again, the security, and to call your Queen if you’re planning on staying.”

  


 

 

Eric gave me a tour of the house with his arm wrapped around my shoulders and securely by his side.  I thought it was a little big for only one vampire to live there, but that seemed to be the vampire way. They definitely liked their luxury, but I guess I would if I had lived when there wasn’t such a thing as a toilet.

“Would you like to finish getting ready now that our luggage has arrived while I call Sophie Ann?” Eric asked while he carried our luggage downstairs. “I’ll show you how to lockdown our room. We will have the same security when we get home.”

“I would like to put on my own clothes and wear clean underwear,” I whispered as we stepped into our private living space downstairs.

  
[ ](http://i1.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/gh-bedroom.png)

Eric & Sookie’s room

“You could have gone without,” he replied with a wink. He sat our luggage in the closet and then made short work of showing me how to set and deactivate the alarm.

“Your code is 082576.  Don’t tell anyone your code.”

“I won’t,” I told him. “Are you going to be in trouble with the Queen?”

“Trouble? No, but she may demand that we return,” he replied as he took his phone off the charger.

“What happens if she does?” I asked worriedly from the closet.

“That depends on how she reacts when I tell her we won’t be returning until matters are settled here.”

“I don’t like it,” I replied, chewing on my bottom lip.

“Neither do I, but we have nothing to worry about from her. I’m older and stronger than she is.”

As I quietly got dressed, I listened to Eric’s conversation with the Queen.

“This is Eric Northman for Her Majesty.”

“Yes, I’ll hold.”

He was quiet as I slipped out of the t-shirt and boxers and into a soft sundress. I silently made my way into the bathroom to brush my hair out now that it was dry and to brush my teeth.

“Good evening, Your Majesty.”

“No, no trouble.  I rarely have any problems with those in my Area.  I was calling to inform you that my wife, my child Pamela, and I are in Dallas with an emergency situation.”

“No, we are all fine, but a friend of mine had gone missing and I came to help locate him.”

“That’s why I was calling. I don’t know when we’ll be back. Thalia was left in charge of the Area.”

I stepped into the room to see Eric sitting on the bed with his eyes closed and squeezing the bridge of his nose. I quietly made my way over to his side and sat down next to him. He didn’t open his eyes, but a slight smile graced his lips as he brought down his hand from his nose to lace with mine.

“We won’t be back until we’ve caught the assailants.”

Rage.

Irritation.

Eric growled as the air seemed to thicken and sizzle with dangerous tension.

“Was that a threat,  _Your Majesty?_ ”  Eric’s cold voice went dangerously low.  “Because I believe that _any_  threats made against me or mine will  _only_  end poorly in your favor.”

This was not good. I tightened my grip on his hand and was shaking with anxiety and fear. The look on his face was radiating power, perception, and calm.

Dangerous and in control.

I could hear the shrill shrieks of the vampire Queen and for a moment I wondered how Eric could stand to have the phone so close to his ear with his enhanced hearing.

“You forget so quickly, Sophie Ann that ‘Queen’ is nothing more than a title.  A title that makes it necessary to need an ancient vampire like myself to protect you, so may I suggest that you choose your next words carefully… Your Grace.”

Eric listened as the Queen spoke and a small smirk grew on his face.

“If you cannot accept my leave then you force me to resign my position as your most profitable and influential Sheriff,”  Eric smiled and quickly continued.  “I’d be more than happy to have my lawyers draw up my resignation papers as well as send you my resignation fee.  My bonded and I were growing weary of Louisiana anyway.”

_Weary of Louisiana?_

I only had a little over half a year’s worth of memories, and what about our house and belongings? I wasn’t so sure I wanted to leave Louisiana.

“In fact, I think I’ll call Mr. Cataliades right now.”  Eric hung up the phone.

I, on the other hand, found a chair and slumped down into it as I closed my eyes. It wasn’t but a moment later I felt Eric’s cooltouch on my cheek and his concern.

“Are you alright, Lover?” He asked as he scooped me up, traded places with me, and sat me on his lap.

“Can we ever go back?” I asked quietly as I snuggled into the crook of his neck.

“To Louisiana?” He asked, rubbing my back. I nodded against his neck. “We can go back although I think we should give it a little time. Sophie Ann isn’t very happy with me at the moment and I don’t want to put you into a situation where there’s a possibility of any danger.”

“What about our house? We didn’t pack enough to stay here for very long.”

“Do you not like it here in Dallas?” He asked, pulling me back to look me in the face.

“I don’t know. We haven’t been here long enough for me to like it or not. I don’t like that you were shot last night and by staying here looking for this Nora, you’re putting yourself into more danger,” I explained.

“I know you don’t, but I promise to be careful,” he replied before placing a kiss on my nose.

“You promised to be careful last night. Were you not careful? Do you know how worried I was?” I said getting upset from remembering what he looked like last night and not waking up.

Eric let out a deep sigh before running a hand through his hair.

“I was careful and on my guard until I rescued Godric. I admit I let my guard down and was overly confident when we met up with the last of the humans. I had no idea they had that type of weaponry, but it is not a mistake I will make again. I am deeply sorry for making you worry. I hate that I caused you so much stress,” he explained resting his forehead against mine.

“I know you do,” I replied, kissing him softly on the lips.

“We were going to stay here until we caught Nora anyway. Now we don’t have to worry about responsibilities there and can focus on the task at hand. You can get to know Godric all over again.”

“What about Fangtasia? That’s still our responsibility.”

“I’ve already thought of that. We’ll put it up for sale. That was our plan before. We would either sell it or let Pam take over once my contract with the Queen was over so that we could travel. Now we can do it that much sooner. We’ve talked about visiting my homeland and where we honeymooned, now we’ll have no problems taking time away. Unless you don’t want to?” He asked, his eyes boring into my own.

“I absolutely do. This all happened so fast and it’s going to take time to get used to. What about more clothes though?”

Eric let out a small chuckle before he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “We can buy more or if you really want your clothes from Shreveport, we can send Charlie back to pack for us and himself. Whatever you’d like. I’m sorry, I didn’t think it would cause you more stress, but I couldn’t let her threaten us. After a little time when she sees that I’m not planning on killingher and taking over the state, and she’s been paid her fine for breaking the contract, we should have no problems with Sophie Ann.”

“I hope not. I’m all for us traveling, but I want to be able to go home eventually.”

“Good. I can’t wait to show you the world, my beautiful wife,” he said before dipping down and kissing me breathless.

“We should go upstairs and inform everyone on the new developments,” Eric spoke as he kissed down my neck.

“We should,” I replied as I pulled his shirt over his head, “but first I need a little more time with my husband.”

I stood and started to slowly take off my clothes as I made my way over to the bed.

“Anything you want, älskling,” he purred as he rose from the chair and stalked toward me.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you 4Padfoot for finding Godric’s house.


	6. Moving Forward

 

[ ](http://i1.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/gh-office.png)

“Well, if it isn’t the newlyweds,” Pam joked as Eric and I made our way into Godric’s office.

“Pam, you know that we’ve been married for almost five years now. Why would you say we’re newlyweds?”

“Because my dear friend, you two are fucking just like a newly married couple.”

“I don’t understand,” I said looking at Eric.

“Did we have sex less often before the accident?”

“No, Lover, we didn’t, but we didn’t have many opportunities from the time we went to work until we came home. Not many… pit stops during our nights,” he replied with a wink.

“I like our pit stops,” I said, leaning against Eric’s side.

“Me too, Lover, me too.”

“Soooo, I don’t understand,” I started.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, I was trying to give you a hard time. I didn’t think it would fly right over your pretty blonde head. You’re nofun anymore!” Pam said, exasperated.

“I can’t help it,” I said with a sniff. Tears welled up and threatened to spill over.

“Pam,” Eric barked after he wrapped his arms around me causing Pam to look down.

“Please forgive me, Master.”

“Don’t give your…”

“Mistress,” Pam interrupted with a wide smile.

“Enough,” Eric replied through gritted teeth. “You will desist in saying  _anything_  that will upset my Bonded.”

“If you’re both going to be so moody, maybe you should make a permanent pit stop for the night,” she laughed out.

I couldn’t understand why she seemed to be trying to upset Eric. I knew how much they liked to joke around with each other, but Eric was in no mood.  He let out a menacing growl as he brought us over to the couch.

Pam rolled her eyes, but apologized quietly to both of us.

“Now,” he said, glaring at Pam sideways. “Maybe you’d like to hear about the conversation I had with Sophie Ann.”

“Judging by  your foul mood, it didn’t go so well,” Godric quietly said from behind his desk.

“She didn’t take our leave well, and then she threatened me and mine,” he snarled out the last part.

“Are we going back?” Pam asked, frustrated.

“Not anytime soon,” he replied.

I was still unsure how I felt about not being able to go home right away. I wanted to get to know Godric, find who kidnapped him, and be able to travel, but not at the cost of never being able to go home.  I only hoped the Queen wouldn’t send anyone after us. I was definitely relieved she no longer suspected me of having telepathy.

Eric pulled me closer to his side and kissed my temple.

“What do you mean?” Pam asked, now agitated. “We’ve got a bar to run; I was getting ready to organize one of my shoe closets by color.”

Quinn mumbled something incoherent that made Pam’s fangs come down and she glared at him.

“I resigned after she wouldn’t see reason. We will not be going back for a little while.”

“What are we going to do about Fangtasia? It won’t run itself. Hell, we’ll be lucky if Sophie Ann doesn’t throw one of her temper tantrums and has it burned down. Really, Eric, what were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that I wasn’t going to let her threaten me, and I am tired of her childish ways. She didn’t want to see reason, and I only had five more years on my contract. I’ll happily pay the fee to be out from under her rule and be able to do what I want. I never would have become Sheriff if I’d known I was going to meet Sookie. I want to travel, show her the world for however long I want, not by Sophie Ann’s stipulations.”

“As for Fangtasia, I plan to sell it unless you want it. I’m tired of spending so much of my free time running a bar.”

“You’d rather spend it in between the legs of your… wife. And I don’t want to run a smelly bar. I’d much rather have my own boutique. Maybe spend a year or three shopping in Europe.”

I watched as a smile spread across her face while she tapped her chin.

“Now that I think about it, this is perfect. Except now who will fund my shopping?”

“You’re a big girl now. You’ll make do,” Eric said with a laugh.

Pam harrumphed from across the room, and then proceeded to pout.

“Fine. I’ll give you the money from the sale of Fangtasia, but that’s it,” Eric growled. “I’m glad her ways haven’t rubbed off on you,” Eric said to me.

“You spoil her too much,” Godric chided Eric.

“Don’t tell me that if Valken lived closer to you, you wouldn’t spoil him,” Eric replied with a knowing look.

“Not as you do with Pamela,” he said with a fond look toward her.  “But maybe it was too much. Valken’s been far too lenient with Nora and perhaps I’ve not set the best example if she thinks she could kidnap me and get away with it.”

Before anyone could answer or protest Pam placed her hand on Godric’s arm and spoke quietly to him. Well, I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but I’m sure everyone else could. I crossed my arms over my chest and looked out the window until they were done with their semi-private powwow.

“Sookie, why are you pouting?” Eric asked with furrowed brows as he pulled my arms from my chest and my hands into one of his large, calloused hands.

“I can’t hear anything,” I whisper-yelled before realizing it was pointless. “Pam’s over there talking all quiet like, and the only person who’s in this room that can’t hear her is me. I’m a boring human who can’t hear anything.”

Eric wrapped his arms around me, placing his lips at my ear before he spoke.

“Dear one, you are far from boring. Even if you were a plain ole’ human, which you are not, you’d never be plain or boring. You are an extraordinary woman. If you want to hear better, you can take my blood on a more regular basis, but I don’t know if it would help enough for you to hear Pam. Even if it did, I doubt you’d want to hear what she was saying.”

He placed a kiss on my ear before pulling back to look me in the eye.

“If you really wanted to know what they’re saying why didn’t you just listen to their thoughts?  You forget that you have a bigger advantage than all of us in that you can read our minds.”

“I try not to read your minds. I don’t want to invade anyone’s privacy.”

I felt Eric’s confusion at my statement so I tried to clarify.

“When you guys are whispering to each other it feels like I’m being left out. It feels personal and it’s easier to listen with my ears than my mind. And just because someone says something does not mean they are thinking it.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way. You know I have nothing to hide from you. You can always listen in on me,” he said with a small smile.

“Not everyone feels that way,” I mumbled.

“I know. How about when we finish here we go do something, just the two of us. Whatever you want. It’s been awhile since we’ve been on a date. Would you like that?”

“Yes!” I exclaimed, throwing my arms around his neck. I peppered his face with kisses before I brushed my lips across his. Eric’s arms pulled me closer and then his hand made its way to my hair.

I heard a loud throat clearing before I pulled away with a smile.

“Sorry,” I said as I looked around the room and then rested my head on Eric’s shoulder.

“You have nothing to be sorry about. If anyone should be apologizing it should be me.”

“What do you have to be sorry about?” I asked confused.

“For trying to plant his flag in your soil while all of us watch,” Quinn quipped.

Eric turned and glared at Quinn before his face softened when he looked back at me.

“I’ve obviously not been a very good husband if you get that excited by the mere mention of a date. I think we should go on atleast one date per week until we start to travel. Do you agree?”

“You know I do. Let’s hurry up and finish this business so I can have you all to myself.”

“Perfect,” he said kissing me once before turning to the rest of the room.


	7. Safety First

“I need to inform Charlie that he’s to go back to Shreveport and pack for our extended stay. If you need him to retrieve anything for you let him know,” Eric said to Hauk and Pam.

“I’ve already set up a few appointments at some boutiques,” Pam replied as she studied her nails. “I don’t have any appropriate Texan wear. I’ll need a new wardrobe for while we’re here.”

[ ](http://i1.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Pam-LA2-4.gif)

Quinn scoffed from the corner.

“You do know we aren’t staying here indefinitely, right?” I asked.

A mischievous smile spread across Pam’s face as she eyed me. “Oh sweet Sookie, we haven’t gotten to shop nearly as much as I have wanted us to since your husband likes to monopolize all of your free time. No, this time you’re coming with me. You’ll need a new wardrobe for our stay here and when you go abroad. Plus do you really want that human in your bedroom and closet?”

“You do know I’m human too, don’t you Pam?  Don’t talk about stinky humans around me.”

“You are well aware that you smell better than any human alive. Don’t act so insulted for all of humankind.”

I looked over at Eric with worry. Charlie had never been in our bedroom and I wasn’t sure if Eric would allow him now.  “There are a few items I want from home regardless of a new wardrobe or not. Will you be okay with Charlie going into our bedroom?”I asked quietly, afraid he’d say no.

“Why are you worried?” He asked cupping the side of my face and then running his thumb along my jaw.   “Have I ever said no to you?”

[ ](http://i0.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Eric-LA2-1.jpg)

“Yes,” I replied instantaneously.

Chuckling lightly Eric kissed my forehead. “Have I ever said no to you when I didn’t think your life was in danger?”

“Not that I know of, but I’m sure you could argue that if we let Charlie know our code then one day he could harm us.”

“Sookie,” he said and gave me an indulgent smile.  “We can change the code or glamour him if it means that much to you to retrieve a few articles from our home.  What would you like for him to retrieve for you?”

“The bracelet you got me for Valentine’s Day.  We were so rushed when we left that I didn’t put it on or grab it; I miss it. I’m used to wearing every day.  I also want my journals, and our dagger.” I whispered the last part even though everyone in the room could hear every word I said.

Eric ran his finger around my left wrist where I normally wore the bracelet he gave me before nodding his head.  “Tell Charlie where to look for your items.  Our dagger is in a box so he won’t be touching the dagger itself.  Is there anything else you want? We don’t know exactly when we’ll be able to return.”

“I’ll be fine once I have those few items.  Do you want anything from home?” I asked as I reached up and traced the necklace that I had bought him.

“I have everything I need here. I’m sure Pam won’t mind buying some more clothes with our credit card,” he stated.  Eric looked over at Pam with a raised brow.

“The more the merrier!” Pam exclaimed as she rubbed her hands together.

“Charlie,” Eric called as he walked passed the room. “I need to speak with you.”

I watched as Charlie looked about the room and swallowed forcefully.

“What do you need, Boss?” He asked once he stood in front of us.

“We are going to be in Dallas longer than we thought. I have resigned from my duties in Louisiana, and we need you go back to pack a few things for us and anything you need for yourself.”

“So I’m not fired?” Charlie asked with relief.

“Far from it. You may have more to do here than you ever did in Shreveport,” Eric said eying him. “Unless you don’t want to work for us here.”

“No!” Charlie exclaimed, and then calmed himself down. “No, I want to continue working for you. When do I leave?”

“Tomorrow during the day. My wife has a few possessions that she would like during our stay. Pam will be buying us new clothes so it will be a relatively short trip for getting what we need.”

“Do you think it’s safe for him to go alone?” I asked after Charlie came back with a pen and paper for Eric to write down his instructions. “It’s well-known that Charlie is our dayman. What if the Queen has sent someone to sniff around and they find Charlie?”

“She very well could have. We’ll figure something out. Smart thinking.” He brought my hand to his cool lips before giving it a kiss and murmured against it.  “This is one of the many reasons why I love you.”

I moved to hug Eric, wrapping my arms around his neck, and nuzzled my face into the side of his neck.  I mouthed ‘sweet’against him and could feel Eric’s amusement as he kissed the top of my head.

“I can go back with Charlie. We shouldn’t have any problems if we arrive well before sundown. I am in need of a few items as well and will be able to protect him if Sophie Ann has sent anyone,” Hauk stated.

“That’s a good idea,” I replied before realizing that if Hauk went with Charlie then he’d know where our house was. Could I invite him into our house all the way from Dallas if Eric was agreeable? And that was a big if.

I watched as Eric sat back with his arms across his chest and quietly contemplated Hauk. I followed along with his thoughts or tried to. Sometimes when he would think something frustrating he’d start thinking in another language. What it all boiled down to was no vampire would ever trust another vampire unless he or she was their master. It made me sad to think that’s how Eric had lived his life until he’d made Pam and met me, but I understood. I’d looked into enough vampire minds to know just how depraved they really could be.

Eric kept going back to my safety again and again in his head. I decided maybe it would help if he heard what I had to say.

“Hey,” I said quietly as I took one of his arms that was crossed and then laced our fingers together after I turned toward him. “I’ve been inside his head many times and I trust him. Our house was already extremely safe and, if for some reason he turned against us, we would be safe and we can change the code. Is it possible to give them a temporary code that will expire after a few days?”

“It’s possible and I know you trust him. It’s very hard for me to trust anyone, especially a vampire. The only vampire who knows of the location to our home is Pam. I don’t think he would turn against you or us, but…” His eyes caressed every feature of my face before he spoke again. “If anything ever happened to you… Let alone because I was negligent in your safety, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I will trust your judgment in this, but,” he said and turned to Hauk. “If I even think for moment you’ve betrayed her or me, I will end you.”

“I would expect nothing less,” Hauk stated with a deep nod.

[ ](http://i2.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Hauk.jpg)

“You,” I said, pointing at Hauk,” you better give him no reason to think you’d betray us. You’re one of my best friends and I’d miss you.”

“I don’t plan on it. I promise you,” Hauk said and smiled at me.  “I treasure our friendship, my little friend.”

I felt Eric tense slightly beside me.  I knew he hated any man showing even friendly endearments to me.  Squeezing his hand, I sent all my love for him before I felt the warm rush of his love flow through me.

“Now that we have that all settled,” Godric said quietly from across the room.  “We need to figure out where Nora is and who is behind giving the Fellowship the technology and information to bring down vampires.  While you are on your… date, I’ll call around to my contacts and Valken to see if he knows where Nora is and when he last heard from her. We’ll reconvene tomorrow night and discuss what I’ve found out and where we will go from there.  We need to shut this operation down before the Fellowship kidnaps and kills more vampires, or worse yet, sells their weapons and lets all of our weaknesses be known.”

Everyone sat quietly as they thought about what would happen if the weapons the Fellowship had, got into the hands of the public and gave them even more knowledge of their weaknesses.  We couldn’t fail.  I didn’t want any vampires dying or getting hurt, but I hated the thought of my vampires being in danger.

Not a sound was made until my stomach growled loudly.  A blush heated my face as everyone’s eyes shifted to me.  Eric stood and held a hand out to me.

“I believe my wife is in need of dinner.  We will see you tomorrow after sundown,” he said and gave a nod to everyone in the room.

“Come älskling.  Let’s get you something to eat and decide what we shall do on our date.”


	8. Kiss Me

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” I asked Eric after we’d been traveling out of the city for a few miles.  I wasn’t sure what type of date we were having so far away from everything.

“You said you didn’t care and for me to choose.  I did a good job with the restaurant, didn’t I?” He asked with an arched brow.

“You know you did a good job,” I replied as I swatted his arm.  “It would have even been more pleasant if you would have stopped shooting bursts of lust at me while I ate.”

“I couldn’t help myself with the way you were moaning and sucking every last morsel off your fork.  I have to say that has to have been one of the best dining experiences we’ve had.”

Eric shot another bolt of lust at me causing me to squirm in my seat and pant a little bit.

“Would you stop? I don’t understand why you keep doing that when we can do nothing about it, first at the restaurant and now in the car.”

“We could have rectified the matter at the restaurant and, if you want, I can pull over to the side of the road,” he replied with aknowing smirk on his face.

“There was no way we were going to rectify anything in a restaurant full of Supes.  They would have heard everything.”

“Very true.  I was only saying we could have, not that we would.  I didn’t realize I was sending so much that you had become uncomfortable.  That was not my intention.  You were doing too good of a job turning me on with that sexy mouth of yours.”

I started to retort when suddenly Eric turned and started traveling down a dark, gravel road.  I tried to peer out my window and the windshield to maybe get an idea as to what we were doing, but I couldn’t see anything.

It wasn’t too much longer before we pulled off the gravel road and parked under a big tree. The sight before me stole my breath, it was so beautiful.

[ ](http://i0.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Starry-lake-LA2.jpg)

I sat staring with my mouth hanging open until I noticed Eric standing on my side of the car with the door open, a blanket over one arm, and his other extended out to me.  I placed my hand in his as I exited the vehicle and let him lead us down a slightly used path.

He placed the blanket on the ground before sitting down and lightly tugging me in between his legs.  I sat back and relaxed against his chest with his arms around me.

“When was the last time we went on a date?” I asked, tilting my head back to look at him.

He looked down at me from gazing up at the stars and kissed my forehead.  “Only a couple of days before your accident. We used to try to go on a date once a week.”

“Oh.”  My emotions immediately plummeted with his words.

“Hey,” he said as he pulled me around to straddle his legs, placed his finger under my chin, and coaxed me to look up at him.  “Why are you feeling so dejected?” His brow furrowed in concern.

“Why haven’t we been on a date since my accident?” I asked, my lower lip quivering.  “Do you not want to go on dates with me?”

“Oh, Lover.  It’s not like that at all,” he said quietly, caressing my face with his thumb. “Before we worked much more than we do now and we would go on dates to be able to spend time together.  Now we spend more time than ever before with each other, but I’ve been remiss in my duties as your husband.  We should go on more dates and I’ll show you how special you are to me.  How does that sound?”

“We don’t have to go on dates for you to show me how special I am to you.  You show me every day, but I do like the idea of us going on the occasional date,” I replied while I wrapped my arms around his neck.  Leaning forward, I brushed my lips against his before resting my forehead against his.

“It’s very beautiful here.  How’d you know about this place?”

Eric turned me back around so that I could see the stunning sight before me.  “We came here once when we were visiting Godric.  You thought it was beautiful then, too.”

We sat quietly looking out over the lake and into the night sky. Eric’s emotions were bouncing from lust to happiness then love, and back to lust again, making me wonder what he was thinking. His arms were wrapped around me and his cheek was resting on top of my head.

I leaned back even further into his embrace and relaxed as I let myself into his mind.  I gasped at what I first saw.

Eric was ravishing me up against the tree we were parked under. It was rough… passionate… hot… I dug my fingers into Eric’s thighs as I watched it play out.

OoOoO

_One moment Eric was ravishing me against a tree and tearing my clothes off, and the next I was completely naked and straddling him as he was laying down on a blanket._

_With both hands on my hips, Eric helped me rock and grind against him.  I moaned and threw my head back as Eric’s large hands snaked up from my undulating hips and cupped my swaying breasts, pinching and rolling my nipples between his fingers._

_“Sookie,” he moaned, thrusting his hips up as I slid down._

_We moved harder and faster, moaning and chanting each other’s names like a sacred prayer.  My skin was flush and slick with sweat, but in Eric’s eyes I looked beautiful._

_With a feral growl, Eric rolled me under him before he slammed his hips into me, watching as I came, screaming and writhing.  The way he saw me in the moonlight was beyond what I could ever look like and the look on my face was one part ecstasy, one part love, and devotion._

_“You are my everything, Sookie,” he whispered, running his fingertips along my cheek._

_“And you are mine,” I replied with a passionate kiss._

OoOoO

“You were happy,” I whispered out into the night.

“We both were. We both  _are_.  Don’t you agree?” He replied kissing up the side of my neck.

I nodded, but kept quiet for a few more minutes as I took in this special place.

“Do you ever still miss her?” I asked even quieter than before. It was a wonder that Eric had even heard me since I barely heard myself.

“No,” he answered against my ear. His arms tightening around me and his love warmed my body and almost took my breath away. “You are still her. She is you. I didn’t think it could ever be possible, but I love you even more now than I did before the accident. I rarely even think of it anymore. It’s only when something comes up that you should know do I even think about it.”

“Really?”

“Truly. You’re a remarkable woman to make me forget.  Tonight is no time to be serious though. We’re going to have plenty of that in the coming days or maybe even weeks. Tonight is to have fun with and enjoy my wife,” he said nipping at my earlobe.

“What did you have in mind?  We’re out here all by ourselves in a beautiful location.” I questioned as I stood up and started to unbutton my shorts.

“I have a few ideas. First,” he said as he leaned back on his elbows, “remove your clothing.”

“Good idea. It is a little hot out here.”  I slowly unzipped my shorts before shimmying them down my hips and letting them fall to my feet. Picking up the hem of my shirt, I slowly brought it past my stomach, pausing just below my breasts.

Eric growled from behind my curtain of cotton causing a smile to spread across my face.

I quickly whipped it over my head to find Eric standing in all his naked glory right in front of me. His fangs were down and his cock was up. I couldn’t help but take in every inch and muscle of his body as I licked my lips. Somehow in the few seconds it took me to get my shirt over my head, Eric had stripped, made his way over to the car to turn on some music that was playing through the air, and was standing only a few couple of feet in front of me.

In one smooth movement, he ripped off my bra and panties, and had me wrapped in his arms with us hovering twenty feet above the lake.

“Air sex?” I asked excitedly.

He shook his head no and smiled mischievously before he stopped hovering and let us fall into the water.

“Take a breath,” he said a moment before we hit the water.

We were only underwater for a few moments before he brought us back up to the surface. Eric’s smile beamed at me as he brushed the hair away from my face.

“I thought we’d go skinny dipping tonight, but I do like your idea of air sex,” he said huskily as he glided us through the water.

“Have we ever had air sex?” I asked against his neck.

“No,” he replied, shaking his head. He stopped moving us through the water and looked down at me with a smile on his handsome face.

I reached up and traced my fingertips over his brows, down his nose and cheekbones before running them over his curved lips. All the while he kept his eyes closed as he relished the feel of my touch.

“You’re so handsome,” I whispered against his lips, causing his smile to become even larger.

“I’m glad you think so. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.” He swept his lips across my own before making his way over to my neck. I arched my neck to the side to give him greater access.

“Do you know how unbelievably happy you’ve made me?” His mouth and tongue were just below my ear and I could feel his chest rumble as he spoke softly, reverently.

“How so?” I managed to ask as one of his hands trailed down my back and the other cupped and massaged my breasts.

“You’ve opened your heart to me not once but twice, and if I had to I’d try make you fall in love with me a million times more.”

“And I’d fall in love with you each and every time, but we don’t have to worry about that. It’s not like some witch is going to come along and curse one of us, taking away our memories.”

“You’re right, that only happens in bad fairy tales or poorly written cable tv shows,” he said as he pulled back and looked into my eyes before crushing his lips to mine. “I’m still thankful nonetheless.”

“As am I. You could have given up on me.”

“Never,” he responded, kissing me deeply.

“I’m sorry it took me so long. I’m sorry I put you through any of it.”

“Don’t apologize. It’s not as if you did it on purpose. No more,” he said against my lips.

Ed Sheeran’s “Kiss Me” came on the radio and I smiled. It was one of my favorite songs at the time.

“Will you dance with me?” He asked as he let my body slip down his until my head was resting on his chest and one hand was encased in his.

We were quiet for a moment as we listened to the song and enjoyed the feeling of our bodies being skin to skin as Eric moved us in a dance through the water.

“Eric?”  I asked and kissed his chest.

“Hmmm,” he hummed from the top of my head.

“Why haven’t we had sex in the air?”

I felt the rumble of his laughter before I ever heard it. When I looked up at him I could see that he was trying not to laugh at me.

“Well, my dear, sweet wife,” he said cupping one side of my face as we continued to slow dance. “Before you were afraid of heights and didn’t enjoy flying as you do now. I’m happy that you enjoy it now and I’m more than willing to appease any of your sexual desires,” he said with a wiggle of his eyebrows, causing me to laugh until he stopped me with a soul scorching kiss.

When we finally broke apart, Eric sucked and nibbled his way down my neck until his cool mouth enveloped my nipple bringing it to a hard peak. He started to move slow and sensually along with the song.

His mouth worked its way back up my neck and to that special spot behind my ear.

My hands gripped, scratched, and caressed every inch of skin I could get my hands on as my climax drove me higher and higher.  I threw my head back as our mutual orgasm overtook me.  Once I came down enough and could finally see again, I watched as star after star danced across the sky.

I don’t know how long I laid there in the water watching the sky and stars with Eric by my side. We were both quiet as we floated. Our only touch was our joined hands.   Although I had never asked Eric it seemed that one of the things that brought him peace was looking up into the night sky.

When I felt Eric let go of my hand, I turned my head slightly to look at him.  He was standing or hovering in the water since it was so deep and had what I would call a sad smile on his face.

“We need to go soon to make it back to Godric’s before sunrise,” he spoke quietly as he pulled me to him and cradled my body to his.

“I wish we never had to leave.  I love it when you feel like you have tonight.  I want more of that for you,” I admitted quietly.

“I promise to give you more time alone with me and more dates, Lover.”

“Thank you for bringing me here.  It’s very beautiful,” I said as I took in the lake and the night sky one last time while Eric slowly flew us back over to our clothes.  “You planned quite a romantic night for us.”

“It pleases me that you enjoyed it.”

“I truly did.”

Once I was done dressing I made my way to the back of the car where Eric was folding up our blanket.  He turned around as Idrew near and held out his arms for me.  I sped up my pace to get to him sooner and wrapped my arms around his narrowwaist as I rested my head on his chest.

“I love you, Eric.”

“I love you, Sookie,” He kissed the top of my head and tightened his arms around me.

“You are my everything,” I said looking into his eyes.

Eric smile grew bigger.  “And you are mine.”


	9. Surrounded

Waking in the late afternoon, I made my way upstairs to make something to eat.  Since it was still summer it would be hours until Eric was up for the night.  As I walked into the kitchen, I found Quinn sitting at the bar, drinking coffee, and reading the newspaper.

[ ](http://i1.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/gh-dining-kitchen.png)

“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty,” he said with a chuckle.

“Good morning,” I said while pouring myself a cup of coffee. “It’s quiet. I guess Charlie and Hauk already left.”

“Yep. Bright and early this morning. They wanted to get to Shreveport and get as much work done as possible before sunset.”

“That makes sense. I hope they’re not gone long. Where’s Mason?” I asked.  Normally he was here by now and working in Godric’s office.

“He went with Charlie and Hauk. How’d you know he wasn’t here?”

I pointed to my forehead before explaining. “You’re the only person I can hear right now since all the vampires are asleep.”

“Right. I keep forgetting that you can read my thoughts.”

“It’s not as easy to read Weres, so it’s not so much as reading your thoughts; it’s more like reading your overall mood, I guess. It depends on the level of shielding I’m doing.”

“Can you explain it to me?” Quinn asked. “It’s fascinating.”

“I can try. Most of the time I shield my mind completely. When I’m doing that I read nothing, not even brain signatures. Whenwe were searching for Godric, they were only slightly down. I can find brain signatures, figure out if it’s human, vampire, Were, etc. The next level would be for humans since they are easiest to read. It takes more concentration for me to hear Weres and vampires unless I touch you, then you come in loud and clear unless you know how to block me. Even then if I try hard enough I can get through your shields.”

“How many people know how to shield their mind from you?” He asked curiously.

“I really don’t know. That’s a better question for Hauk. From the time I can remember I’ve only come across Eric and Hauk, but like I said, if I want, I can get through them.”

“Doesn’t that bother the Sheriff?”

“No,” I replied shaking my head. “I said I can, not that I do. Even if I did, it wouldn’t bother him. Our house is warded so that Ican’t hear anyone unless I touch them. I block him out if I don’t want to hear what he’s thinking which is my default. He only started doing it after I got my telepathy back. I had no idea how to shield anyone’s thoughts and it was too much.”

“Wow! I can’t imagine hearing everyone’s thoughts.”

“You don’t want to. People rarely think nice things and the things they think about when Eric’s around…,” I stopped and shook my head. “I’m kind of happy to get rid of Fangtasia and never have to read those thoughts again.”

“I’m sorry, babe. Sounds like you’ve had a rough go of it.”

“It’s not as bad as I make it sound. We haven’t been there very often after my telepathy came back. I’m just happy that Hauk decided to stay to help me get control, or I would have either gone crazy or been stuck at home forever.”

We were quiet while I ate my breakfast and Quinn read his paper. While I was standing at the sink washing my dishes, I caught sight of someone walking at the edge of the property.

“Quinn?” I whispered.

“Yeah? What’s up?” He asked, noticing that something was wrong with my tone.

“Are there supposed to be Weres out guarding the property?” I asked shakily.

“No. It’s only me. Is someone out there?” He got up and moved to the window looking out with me.

“I saw someone walking along the edge in the back but I can’t see him anymore.  Hang on.”

I closed my eyes, dropped my shields, and scanned outward. The farther I scanned, the more minds I discovered, and they were all headed our way.

“Anything?” He asked, placing a hand on my shoulder bringing me out of their thoughts.

“Nothing good,” I breathed out. “I counted fifteen Weres coming our way.”

“Shit,” he growled out. “Do you know their plans?”

“They’re surrounding the house and plan to attack while all the vampires are asleep for the day.” I slid to the floor. “What are we going to do? There’s no way you can take on all of them. Oh God! They know Eric and me are here.”

“What else?” Quinn asked kneeling in front of me.

“I don’t want to read them anymore,” I sobbed out. I couldn’t stand to be in their heads another minute while they thought about kidnapping and torturing all of us before killing each of us, and making us watch until it was our turn.

The door to downstairs flew open leaving a large dent in the wall, with a very naked and furious Eric hiding just inside the shadows.

[ ](http://i0.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Eric40.jpg)

 

I jumped up and ran crying into Eric’s arms.

“They’re coming,” I said against his neck.

“I’ve got you and I won’t let anything happen to you,” he said while he held me tightly. “Try to calm down and tell me what’s happening.  Who’s coming?”

“Fifteen Weres have surrounded the house and plan to kidnap everyone.”

“Do you know when?”

“They’re waiting for someone to call, and then they’ll break in. They have silver nets, some type of UV light to use on you, guns with UV bullets, and silver. They have horrible things planned for us, Eric, even me.” I could barely choke out the words.

“Quinn!” Eric barked out. “Grab food and drinks for you and Sookie, and get downstairs.  We’re going on lockdown.”

He quickly turned and took us back downstairs into our bedroom.  Once inside he placed me on the bed before quickly getting dressed and kneeling down in front of me.

“Where are they, älskling?” Eric asked, holding my hands in one of his while he dried my tears with the other.

I closed my eyes and concentrated for a few moments until I had located each one of them.

“Ten of them are stationed around the house and five of them are hanging back by the road in case someone tries to escape or arrives during their ambush,” I replied, and then opened my eyes.

“You’re doing great,” Eric cupped my face and rubbed his thumbs over my cheeks.  “Take a deep breath and try to relax.  I know this is very stressful, but we are not going to get hurt. I promised and I always keep my promises, don’t I?” He gave me a slight smile before heading to the door to type in the code to lock down the house.  His moves were slow and lethargic, and I didn’t know how much longer he would be able to fight the pull of the sun.

“Where’s Quinn?” I asked before he started.

“Out there,” he gestured out the door.

“Our door will be sealed, right?”

“Yes, all the doors will be individually sealed.  If they somehow made their way into the house and past the door leading downstairs, which is almost impossible, they’d then have to get past each door to get into the bedrooms,” he explained.

“Can Quinn come in here with us?” I asked.  “I can already feel you starting to slowly fade away and I hate the idea of him being stuck out there alone.”

“Why not? He’s already stunk up our bedroom once,” he grumbled.  “Quinn,” Eric called.

Quinn came up to our door trying to hide the grin from his face, but wasn’t very successful. “You don’t need to worry about me, Sookie. I’ll be fine.  This place has the best security system you can get,” he said flashing a smile.

“Just come in,” Eric replied exasperated.  “I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to be able to stay _awake,_  and I’d feel better if someone was in here to talk with her. I’ll stay awake for as long as possible.”

“You’re sure?” Quinn asked uncertainly.

“Yes, and bring the supplies too.”

Once Quinn was in the room with our food and water, sitting in the chair across the room, Eric quickly typed in an extremelylong code putting the house on lockdown.  We sat quietly while we listened to the shutters slam down and the doors seal shut.

“What if they set the house on fire?” I asked, starting to panic again.

“It could set the upstairs on fire if they tried hard enough. Although it’s flame resistant and there are sprinklers, it’s a possibility.”

“Christ! Don’t tell her that!” Quinn growled out.

“I will not lie to her. I never have and I’m not about to start now. She needs to know what could happen.  Sookie,” Eric turned to me and sat beside me on the bed. “The whole downstairs is equipped to never catch on fire and it has its own ventilation system, so even if the entire upstairs is destroyed, we will be safe down here.  If I thought there was any chance at all that you were in danger I would have had you out of here by now.  There’s only three hours until sunset and, if they know anything about vampires older than half a century then they know that we can rise before the sun sets. They’ll attempt their attackbefore then.”

I felt Eric start to fade a little more.  It was too early for him to be awake, and it had me slightly concerned that he might not wake up at his normal time, or even at sunset if he stayed up any longer.

“Eric, why don’t you lay down and go back to sleep.  I’ll be fine. I’ve got Quinn to talk to if I need him,” I said trying to push him tolay down.

He nodded his head and pulled me up with him to rest at the top of the bed.  I snuggled against his side with his arms wrapped around me.

“Eric?” I asked as I felt him fading fast.

“Hmmm?” he hummed out. I looked up and his eyes were already closed.

“Will you wake up if anything else happens?”

“You should be able to wake me. I’m sorry I can’t stay awake with you, Sookie.” His arms squeezed me tighter.

“Will you wake at your normal time or at sunset?” I asked, but the response I received was a humming noise as he tried toanswer.

I hugged him tightly with my eyes screwed shut and wished he could stay awake with me too, but I knew it was impossible, and he had done everything he could to make me safe and comfortable.  After a few minutes, I squirmed out of his hold and sat up against the headboard looking over at Quinn.

He gave me a sad smile as if he knew I was upset.  I only wished I knew  _when_  Eric would wake up.  I’d be beside myself until he was awake again.

“Do you want to watch TV or something to pass the time?” Quinn asked hopefully.

“Sure. Why don’t you move your chair where you can see the TV better and choose something.  I don’t watch it enough to know what I like or what’s good.”

“You’re sure you want me to choose?”

“Yep,” I  said, popping the ‘p’.

  
[ ](http://i1.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/gh-bedroom.png)

Eric & Sookie’s room

Quinn moved so that he could see the TV and flipped through the channels until he came up with some movie where a guy and girl were being chased by some madman.  I didn’t really pay much attention.  I sat running my fingers through Eric’s hair as I kept track of where all the Weres were, but stayed out of their thoughts.  They came up to the house and I don’t know what they tried, but they never made their way inside.  I stared at the TV until I felt a cool, strong arm circle around my waist and pull me down.

“Hey,” I whispered against his lips.

“Hey yourself,” he replied with a smile before his tongue licked along my bottom lip.

Quinn’s throat clearing reminded me we were not alone.  I kissed him deeply for only a moment more before pulling back.

“I’m guessing all is well upstairs,” Eric stated, sitting up and pulling me in his lap.

“Once the house was locked down they came up to it, but that’s all I know. They never made their way in and I stayed out of their heads.  I knew that if I listened to them, it would only upset and worry me.  I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“You didn’t need to do that for me. I would have stayed awake if I could have.”

“I know.  It was for me too. I didn’t want any more of their vile thoughts in my head.  They really hate vampires.  I don’t understand why they are involved with the Fellowship though. Don’t they know that if the Fellowship ever found out about them they will believe they are just as evil as vampires?”

“You make a very good point, my beautiful Bonded.  I only know that we need to stop them before they hurt anyone else.  Do we still need to be on lockdown or can we go meet up with everyone and fill them in on what’s happening?” Eric asked while he rubbed his hand up and down my arm.

“They’re still outside, but they’ve moved back into the tree line again.”

“Very well. I’m going to go unlock the downstairs so that I can let everyone know what’s going on.  Once we decide on a plan, we will… get rid of them,” he said with a smirk.  “When I leave the room, I want you to put in your code so that this room will be locked down again.  I’ll come back for you once it’s safe.  Do not leave this room until I’m right outside of it, do you understand?”

Eric pulled back and gave me a pointed look.

“I understand, just as you understand what will happen if anything happens to you.”

“That’s what I thought,” he smiled as he planted a soul-scorching kiss on my lips, leaving me panting.

He got up, went to the closet, and pulled on his leather jacket.  I heard a few noises and when he came out he had a knife tucked into the front of his pants as well as a sword that looked nearly as tall as me in his hand.  Eric was excited. I could feel it as it stemmed my worry.

I rose from the bed and pulled him to me, relishing the feel of his love and happiness.  Eric hugged me back with his free arm just as tightly.

[ ](http://i2.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/ericsookie2.png)

“Be safe. I love you,” I said against his chest with a kiss.

“As I love you,” he said while he nuzzled the side of my neck.

“Lock this door and remain here,” Eric looked over at Quinn and gave him a nod.

“She’ll be safe.  Go kick some ass for me.”

“Will do,” Eric grabbed his phone from the nightstand before he left, letting me know that if anything changed he was only a phone call away.

I watched while Eric put in his code to unlock all the bottom floor doors and once he was out of the door, he was joined by Godric and Pam.  They were already talking rapidly and heading upstairs with weapons in their hands as I sealed the bedroom door.


	10. Holding Back

In a daze, I walked over to the large empty bed and quietly sat down following Eric, Godric, and Pam’s brain signatures out of the house.  Faster than I could count, the Weres’ brain signatures were disappearing one by one.  A few of them attempted to run and escape, only to have them flicker off my radar as soon as they tried to make a run for it.

The Weres were trying to figure out how many vampires were attacking them, but Eric, Pam, and Godric were moving too quickly for them to track.

A retreating thought caught my attention and I followed it to the back end of the property.

_That bitch said there wouldn’t be any problems.   This was supposed to be an easy job! That fucking bloodsucker lied to us!_

I scurried to find my phone on the bedside table and dialed Eric hoping that he would answer.  We needed that Were alive.  If he didn’t answer I didn’t know how I’d be able to get past Quinn and reach him.

Pressing my ear against the phone I held my breath.

“We’re sorry, the number you have dialed is unavailable.  Pleas-.”

“No. No. No!” I mumbled, quickly ending the call and opening my contact list.  I pressed Pam’s name and the phone started dialing.

“Please, please answer!” I chanted repeatedly while I listened to the phone ring.  I let out a sigh of relief when I heard her finally pick up.

“What is it, Cupcake?  We’re a bit busy,” Pam snapped, catching me by surprise.

“I need to speak to Eric, hand the phone to him,” I told her, trying to ignore the unmistakable sounds of flesh being cut through by her sword.  There was so much gore in the background.

Drifting through the thoughts of everyone above, I was surprised to see how fierce, yet graceful Godric fought taking on two or three Were’s at a time.   I was in awe as I watched him fight.

Static pierced the phone before I heard Eric’s voice.

“Min  _älskare_ , as much as I do love hearing your voice,” he paused, the sound of bones breaking turned my stomach.  “Pam’s right, we’re quite busy at the moment.”

A Were screamed and I listened as Eric swung his sword through the air, permanently silencing the enemy while Pam snickered in the background.

“Eric,” I called through the phone.

“Hmm,” he grunted out.  Without thinking, I tracked down the Were who was now hiding toward the back of the house and dipped into his mind.  To my shock I watched as Eric took out two more Weres with one swing of his deadly sword.

“The reason I called was to tell you that I found a Were who was thinking of Nora as he tried to get away.”

“Where is he now?” Eric growled out, leaving one less Were standing. “Sookie, you really shouldn’t be watching how this all goes down.  I’ve never wanted you to see the horrors of my nature.”

“He’s hiding behind the house watching ya’ll.” I replied.  “Eric, I don’t think you should kill him.  Maybe capture him and see what he knows. We need all the help we can get if we’re ever going to find Nora and whoever else is helping her.”

“Sookie, did you hear me?  Do not watch this,” he repeated.

“Eric,” I sighed closing my eyes.  “It’s not like I wanted to see what ya’ll are doing up there, but I am trying to help and I am telling you that you shouldn’t kill that Were.  I was worried about you,” I quietly said the last part.

“I know you were, but now that you’ve unfortunately seen what I am capable of maybe that will ease your mind somewhat.  We are almost done here. I’ll come to see you after I capture the Were you spoke of.  And Sookie, I am asking you to stop watching.  For me.”

“I promise to stop,” I whispered, ready to hang up the phone so he could do what needed to be done.

“Sookie,” he hummed. “I will be coming for you.”  A whisper of his lust teased me, stealing my breath.

“I’ll be waiting,” I ended the call with a tremble of anticipation and jumped when I noticed Quinn watching me from the chair he had been in here this whole time, a knowing smile lifted his lips.

“If it’s all clear I think I should be going before Northman comes to claim his prize,” he joked.  “Are you going to be okay?” He asked, noticing as my breath became labored and my skin flushed.

Slowly my skin cooled, my heart rate steadied, and I could breathe with ease as I felt my bond with Eric fading.  I was worried for a moment until I felt reassurance flow through me right before our bond fell silent.

“I’ll be fine.  There’s no one around the house and only a couple more Weres for them to take out.  Eric’s already looking for the one I warned him about.”

“I thought you promised to stop watching,” he replied with humor.

“I have,” I glared at him.  “I’m only following his signature.”

Holding his hands up in surrender, Quinn quipped back. “It’s not my business.  Before I leave,” he added as he walked to the door waiting for me to let him out.  “Have you ever experienced your… husband when he was in bloodlust?”

“No,” I shook my head as I entered in the code. “But I’ll be fine. Eric would never hurt me.”

“Eric would never hurt you,” he paused, looking unsure.  “Intentionally, that is.”

“Quinn, while I appreciate your concern, you need to go.  He’s coming and I’m pretty sure you don’t want to be here when he arrives.”

As the door hissed open to let Quinn out, Eric stood before us with his nostrils flaring and blood splattered over every inch of him.

[ ](http://i0.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/EricSeason6_Crop.jpg)

“Leave,” he rasped while glaring at Quinn.

Not needing to be told twice, Quinn slinked out of the room, and then rushed down the hall and out of the house.  With deliberate steps, Eric strode toward me with a look of promise in his heated stare until my back was against the wall.

“Eric,” I whimpered as I lifted my hand to touch his face only to falter when I couldn’t find an area not stained with blood.

My hesitance caused him to pause and the aggressive lust that rolled off of him staggered.

“You think me a monster?” he whispered.  “What you saw-”

“No,” I interrupted, cupping his cheeks despite the blood.  “Never.  You’re just a little… messy.” I said, my nose scrunched up.

A grin curled his lips, and suddenly I was being tossed over his shoulder and whisked away to the bathroom.  The door slammed behind us and without putting me down, Eric turned on the hot water of the shower.

“Eric, put me down!”

Something between a growl and a chuckle rumbled from his chest before he stood me on my feet.

“As you wish,” he grinned.  Both of his hands grabbed the collar of my shirt and, before I could react, Eric tore it off my body, letting the scraps fall to the floor.  Just as quickly, my pants were ripped from my body leaving me naked and speechless.  A jolt of lust shot through me and suddenly I felt as though I was on fire.

“My turn.”

Eric smiled wickedly before his clothes were nothing more than shreds of fabric littering the floor and regardless of the blood splattered all over his body, I wanted him, blood or no blood.

I watched with complete fascination as his tongue licked the tip of his fang before wetting his bottom lip.

“Come to me, my Sookie,” his middle and index finger curled slowly as he beckoned me.

Once I was in reach, Eric pulled me flush against his cool body before bringing us both underneath the spray of the shower.  Hot water covered us and the blood slowly began to rinse off his body.  I stood there, watching as his hands moved up his arms, over his chest, and then down his stomach.  A dark grin crossed his lips and I held my breath, watching as one of his large hands grabbed his erection and stroked.

My fingers itched to touch him but I found that I couldn’t move.  I could only watch in envy.

“Eric,” I whispered with a shaky breath.

[ ](http://i1.wp.com/www.gyllene76.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/shower21.jpg)

Taking a step closer to me, he released the firm grip on his erection, and then grabbed my shoulders and pushed me against the tile wall.  Leaning down until his nose-touched mine, he nipped my bottom lip.

“Better?” he growled and I knew he was referring to the blood that was once on his body.

“Yes,” I said barely above a whisper, and then before I could say another word, he grabbed my thighs, lifted me against thewall and thrust deeply inside me.

Crying out, I threw my head back and wrapped my legs more tightly around his waist. There were no sweet words or endearing kisses, only hard and fast pumping as he claimed my body with his. His fangs scraped along my neck, followed byhis tongue licking and sucking.

“You’ve been holding out on me,” I moaned out as he plunged deeper into me.

Long strokes filled me over and over again as I dug my fingers into his shoulders.

“Eric,” I moaned, opening my eyes to see him watching me. “Harder.”

“Sookie,” he snarled, his body tense with need.

“Harder,” I repeated. “Don’t hold back. I want to give you what you need.  What you want.”

A growl ripped from his throat and suddenly my back was on the floor and my legs were over his shoulders.

“You want all of me?” he asked, his voice hoarse as the head of his erection teased my opening.

“Eric, please!” I whimpered, moving my hips to feel more of him.

“Then you will have all of me…”

He slammed into me, going deeper than ever before. Eric didn’t wait for me to adjust. No. He grabbed my legs and fucked me hard. Our wet skin slapped against each other as the pressure inside me grew and intensified causing my body to tremble and shake. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take.

Without warning, Eric left me, leaving me aching, and I cried out in frustration.

I turned to glare at him but he quickly pulled me up to my knees, and then turned me around so my back was flush against his chest and my legs rested against his. He wrapped one arm around my waist while the other hand squeezed my breast.

In one quick movement, Eric thrust back into me and moved like never before.

This wasn’t the soft and sweet motion of making love. This was primal, animalistic need. It was rough, hard, and I loved every unexpected bit of it.

Chanting his name, I couldn’t hold back.  I tried so hard, not wanting this experience to end, but he was relentless. I came withhis name on my lips and stars in my eyes.  Little did I know it was only the beginning.

OoOoO

Carrying me from the bathroom and gently placing me in our bed, Eric slipped in next to me pulling me to his side.  I snuggled my face into the crook of his shoulder as my body lay spent from Eric’s non-stop pursuit of pleasure.

“You’ve definitely been holding back on me,” I sighed with a playful slap to his chest.

“So does this make me your sex God?”  He asked with a teasing grin.

“Oh, I don’t know,” I replied with a nonchalant shrug.  “Maybe my Viking Sex God.”

I burst into a fit of giggles and felt his body shake, his grip tighten as his laughter rumbled from his chest.  “I’m glad I could finally prove myself.”

He buried his nose into my hair as he wrapped himself around me.  His body was like a cocoon making me feel safe and loved.  I closed my eyes and snuggled deeper letting myself drift away only to be brought out of my foggy sleepiness with Eric’s words.

“I didn’t hurt or scare you, did I?” He questioned. I could feel his worry seeping through my languid body enough to cause me to peek up at him.

I could see that his brows were furrowed and the wrinkles around his eyes and on his forehead were more pronounced.  Lifting my hand, my fingers tried to soothe his worry that was etched into his face until he lightly gripped my wrist and brought my hand to his lips.  Kissing first my pulse point, and then my palm, he held my hand against his mouth.

“I’m tired, but fine.  I was never once scared or hurt by you,” I reassured him as I nuzzled into his chest.

“I hate what you witnessed tonight,” Eric murmured regretfully while his gaze was locked onto mine.  “You shouldn’t…

Interrupting him with a finger pressed to his mouth. “You can’t hide me from everything. For one, I’m a telepath and can read any thought from anyone. Secondly, we are bonded to live until the other no longer does. That may be one more day,” Ericscowled but kept quiet and let me continue, “or a thousand years. Either way you’re not going to be able to shield me forever from all the ugly in the world, but I do love that you try.”

“I still don’t like it,” he responded, pulling my head down to rest on his chest.

“I didn’t enjoy it either, but it’s a good thing I did because maybe that Were that you captured will give you some information on Nora. When are you going to interrogate him?” I asked with a yawn.

“After you go to sleep,” he replied, running his fingers through my hair.  “I probably won’t be back until right before sun up. I don’t think he’ll give any information up too easily.”

Eric continued to run his fingers through my wet hair with one hand while his body stayed wrapped around my own until Idrifted off to sleep.

Falling asleep with a smile on my face, my last thoughts were of how lucky I was to have Eric, to be able to feel his love for me, and that I wouldn’t let him hold back from me any longer.


	11. Alternative Tactics

I was sitting on the bed in between Eric’s legs while he brushed the tangles from my wet hair.  I had been in the shower when he rose for the night, and if I was afraid that he might go back to holding out on me again, Eric quickly proved me wrong by taking me up against the shower’s tile wall the moment he stepped inside.

Was it possible for a vampire to wake up in bloodlust?

I didn’t know, but I was definitely sated for the night, and feeling the hairbrush along with Eric’s hands softly flow through my hair was enough to cause me to melt into a pile of goo right there on the bed.  I didn’t want to leave this bed. In fact, all I wanted to do was snuggle up next to my vampire for the rest of the night, but I knew that wasn’t likely to happen.

Once Eric was done, he sat my brush down on the bed before placing a kiss in that special spot just underneath my ear. He knew what he was doing to me, and it was even more obvious when I felt his cool breath from his chuckle against my skin.

“You’re not fair,” I pouted.

“Why is that, min älskade?” He asked as he wrapped his arms around my waist from behind.

Leaning back, I rested my head on his shoulder and placed my hands on top of his.  “I don’t want to move from this bed.  I want to stay here and snuggle with you for the rest of the night, but I know that won’t happen. Tell me what you know and why you’ve been so apprehensive about telling me.”

“We need to leave here to be able to take down the vampire who has orchestrated this fight with us.  He’s stationed too far away for us to be able to come and go. Texas is a big state, and not all of us can fly or move at supernatural speed.  We need to find a closer location where we can all stay. Godric is calling an ally that he trusts to help with the fight and a place to stay.”

“Okay.  That doesn’t sound bad.  What else?” I questioned. Something wasn’t adding up as to why he hadn’t wanted to tell me.

“I am worried about security, your security. It is widely known that the vampire that Godric wants to work with has an extreme dislike for Weres.  It is possible that Quinn will not be able to remain with us.”

“But…”

“I will find a way.  I will not be able to stop worrying about your safety if I know that you have no one during the day and when I cannot be with you to protect you. It is possible that I’ll have to make other arrangements and we may have to stay somewhere away from the group,” Eric explained.

“What about Hauk?”

“He’s a fine protector for you, but he will be out at night helping us and he cannot be seen by anyone during the day.  We will just have to wait until Godric hears back from Thortin.”

“I don’t mind staying in a separate location if necessary. We would have more alone time together with it just being us and Quinn,” I said with hope.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think that will be the case,” he said sadly. “I believe that we will be with one another less given that I will need to be with the group deciding on what needs to be done and making arrangements.  I’m only telling you this now because you asked  _why_  I was apprehensive.  I can tell you that Godric wants everyone to go. He doesn’t want anyone staying here in case of another attack.  Charlie and Mason do not have the clearance to come down here on their own, and since they can both be glamoured, Godric doesn’t want to grant them temporary access.”

“I understand that.  I like Mason and you know how much I like Charlie, so it doesn’t bother me that they are going,” I replied happily.

“You were only just hoping for more alone time with me,” Eric said, kissing the top of my head and started to sway us back and forth.  “Someday soon when this is all over we will get our alone time.  We will travel the world, and I will show you my homeland and where we honeymooned.  We can be gone as long as we want.  Will that make you happy?”

“I’m happy with you now,” I said, turning around to straddle his lap.   “It doesn’t matter where we are, but I would like to see where you come from and the place of our honeymoon. I want to go when the days are long and dark. I want to experience that with you.”

“Then you will,” he replied, his breath caressing my ear.

“Are you going to tell me the information you found out last night?” I asked, resting my forehead against his and staring him in the eyes.

“If you want to know,” he replied simply, but our bond told me something else. He was hesitant for some reason.

I was immediately taken aback and hurt. Did Eric not want to tell me for some reason? He’d always told me that he hid nothing from me and that we talked about everything, that I was his confidant.

I pushed up off his lap and launched myself to the other side of the room as my tears welled up, blurring my vision.

“Kära en, what…”

“No,” I said, shaking my head and interrupting him. “Why don’t you want to tell me what you found out?  I thought you hid nothing from me, but…”

“No buts,” Eric interrupted angrily. “I’m not trying to hide anything from you, and if you truly wanted to know you only have to read it directly from me. I was only concerned about telling you because once you find out you’ll be worried about me and everyone else.  I know you, Sookie, and how you react when you think I’ll be in danger.”

“You’ll be in danger?” I choked out as my tears returned, only this time I couldn’t hold them back.

Eric was quickly kneeling in front of me and pulling me to his chest.

“I’m afraid so. That’s why I need to know that you’re safe. I’d send you far away until this whole mess was taken care of if I thought you’d stay where I wanted you to be safe, but if what I thought before hadn’t convinced me, then your feeling of determination to keep me safe right now and the vast amount of hurt I felt when I mentioned sending you away definitely did the trick.”

I watched as a smile spread across his face and the warmth of his love almost overwhelmed me. I hugged myself to his large frame, and then asked him what was so funny when I felt his body lightly shake and his amusement.

“I love how you feel that you can keep me safe and that you’d do anything to protect me.  It’s a blessing and a curse. If you were ever hurt because you were trying to save or protect me…” I felt him shake his head and hold me tighter.  “I could never live with myself.  I need you safe,” he implored, pulling back to stare down at me. I looked into his soulful eyes as they showed me every emotion that was running through our bond.

Protectiveness.

Determination.

Conviction.

Love.

“Promise me you’ll do as I and those around you say,” he said, his eyes pleading with mine.

I could feel that he would be in constant worry for me if I didn’t promise. I also knew that he’d worry about me anyway just as I would worry about him.  I had already seen him get hurt twice, and I never wanted to see Eric shot or burned again.

“I promise I’ll be safe and do as you say,” I vowed, sitting up straight and squaring my shoulders. “Please tell me what you found out. Did you get the information easily?”

“Easy for us,” he smirked.  “No,” he shook his head. “It did not go as smoothly for the Were we captured just as I knew it wouldn’t.  He was very unwilling to give up any intelligence. There were only a few minutes before dawn when I made it back to our room, but we got every last piece of information out of him.”

“Is he dead?” I quietly asked.

Eric’s smile dropped from his face and he turned serious. He answered back just as quietly. “Yes.”

Tilting my head to the side, my eyes roamed Eric’s face as I tried to place what he was feeling.  It was a mixture of resignation, apprehension, and something else. “I’m not understanding what you’re feeling,” I finally stated when I could not place the unnamed emotion.

“I am not ashamed of what we did last night. It is part of my vampiric nature, and it needed to be done to keep those I love and care for safe, but I also know your caring heart and that you don’t want anyone to die or get hurt, even our enemy. Also,” he paused and rubbed his thumb over my bottom lip, “I don’t want you to see me as a monster.”

“Never!” I promised, shaking my head while I pulled him closer and kissed him.

Our lips met feather light at first. Small caresses against each other until his hands wound in my hair. It was short but passionate. It was a promise, a vow.  He would always be my Eric, my husband.  Nothing could change that or my love for him.

Pulling away, I could see that I had allayed his fear that I would one day see him differently.  I would be happy to set his fears at ease everyday if I could see and feel the way he looked at me now.

We finally settled down on the couch in the adjoining room. Our bodies faced each other with our hands entwined before he finally told me what we’d be confronting in the days to come.

“What we discovered isn’t good news, Sookie,” Eric confessed. “ The one who’s been funding the Fellowship is a vampire, and not just any vampire, but a very ancient and powerful vampire from the Old World.”

“How old?” I asked as my eyes darted over his worried face.

“Somewhere around twenty-five-hundred-years-old,” he answered with a smile that I’m sure was supposed to be reassuring, but looked more like a grimace setting my nerves aflame.

“Older than Godric?”

“Yes,” he nodded. “He’s one of the oldest vampires that I am aware of, and he’s been taking out all the ancient vampires in the Old World and has now moved here.  Godric is one of the oldest here in the New World,” he explained.

I knew there was still more, and that it was likely very bad since I could feel Eric’s unease intensifying more as he spoke. “What else?”

“He knows that I was the one who saved Godric from the warehouse, he’s had the Fellowship watching us ever since, he knows that we are still here, and he now has his sights set on killing me also.”

I felt the blood drain from my face as the world stopped on its axis.

“No!” I gasped.  Eric was right to feel the way he felt.  No! He needed to be more afraid than he was. We needed to leave and go I don’t know where, but somewhere where this crazy ass vampire would not find us.

Wrapping his arms tightly around me, Eric rocked me and tried to convince me that everything was going to be alright, but I knew that he couldn’t promise that.  No one could. I wouldn’t be able to relax until I knew we were all safe.

After a few minutes I pulled myself together with some deep breaths and looked up at Eric’s worried face.  I attempted to smile and let him know I was fine, but there wasn’t a smile I could give that would convince either one of us that we were fine and not in danger.

“Do you want me to send you away?  I will if you want me to, if you need me to.  I’ve never felt you so fearful before in my life.”

“You,” I said, poking him in the chest. “Need to be more scared.  You should want to leave with me and our friends, and never come back,” I begged.

“It wouldn’t matter.  He wants us dead, and I believe he’s just crazy enough to keep coming after us no matter where we would go. He might get sidetracked into killing others, but in the end I don’t think he’d stop unless he was finally dead, or Godric and I were dead.  You don’t want to spend the rest of your life on the run from some crazed vampire.”

Shaking my head, I curled my hands into tight fists. “Why is he doing this? It makes no sense that he’s out there killing other vampires.”

Prying my hands from their angry grip, Eric laced his fingers with mine. “According to the Were, it is because he hates how vampires have become since the Revelation.”

“I don’t understand,” I said with a frown.

Kissing my temple, Eric calmly continued. “He believes they’ve become soft since they don’t have to hide what they are anymore, life is too easy, and we are losing our edge. If he kills off all the ancient vampires who have any remote chance at ending him, Marcus believes that he can drive the remaining vampires to return to the way it was before we outed ourselves. To the underground,” he explained.

“That’s insane!  Just because he kills all these vampires it’s not like the world is going to forget that vampires ever existed.  I can’t wrap my head around it,” I said, putting my hands on my head and shaking it.

“I don’t understand it either, dear one.  He has always been known to my world as being easy to deal with. No one would have ever expected that he would one day go on a killing spree of his own kind.  Most likely no one knows that it’s been him who has been killing all the powerful vampires in the Old World.  Godric, Hauk, and I will be calling some of our contacts to see if the names of the vampires that we got from the Were are, indeed, finally dead.  If they are, we will need to be extra diligent regarding our safety.  It wouldn’t be hard for him to kill us all in one swoop.”

“I still say we run away,” I said quietly into this chest.

“We are the only chance at stopping him, and he  _will_  keep coming after us if we run.  We will stay and fight. We will find out all the information we can and use our every advantage.  We will be successful. We have no other choice,” Eric stated.

“So what do we do now?” I asked unsure of our next move.

“We meet up with the others to see if they have any information, get on the phone to make arrangements; find out any information we can, pack up what we have here, and after we find accommodations, we will leave. Hauk, Charlie, and Mason should be here by the end of the night, and if everything goes according to plan, we will leave tomorrow night or the next.  We don’t want to be here in case Marcus decides to attack.”

I snuggled up to Eric’s side as we continued to sit on the couch seeking his comfort.

“I’m scared,” I whispered.

“I know. I am too,” Eric confessed.

We stay huddled up together for a few more minutes before Eric stood and helped me to my feet so that we could head upstairs to see if anyone had found any information that would be of help to us.

Just as we made it to the door leading upstairs, I turned to Eric and asked, “Is that why you were using sex to distract me when you woke up?”


	12. Worry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has not been beta'd.

After Eric and I had gone upstairs, Hauk, Charlie, and Mason arrived with what looked to be every piece of clothing that Eric and I possessed.  The only thing I cared about was my bracelet and our dagger.  Anything else could be bought.  While I talked to Charlie and Mason in the kitchen as we ate a quick dinner, all the vampires of the house and Quinn (surprisingly) were holed up in Godric’s office strategizing.

I was worried about the upcoming battle or war and would peek into Eric’s thoughts every once in a while. My emotions must have given me away each and every time since his first thought was that he loved me and that all was going well.  Then his thoughts would go change into a different language. It wasn’t surprising, I knew that Eric rarely thought in English unless he was purposely thinking to me.

Well, was a fine term for vampires especially for the ones that were in the room with him because they all loved a good fight and relished in planning a battle. After dipping into each of their heads, briefly I could only find their minds whirling with strategy and glee for the upcoming fight. They were not worried one little ounce and it seemed as if I was taking on all the worry.  I didn’t want anyone to get hurt let alone die.  I had grown fond of all of them, even Godric in the very short period of time I’d come to re-know him.  They were my vampires and I’d do everything in my power to make sure they were unharmed. I had a feeling that was why Eric wanted to make sure that Quinn could stay with me, he knew that I would try to help if I could. And I did understand why he felt that way, hopefully, he could understand why I felt the way I did. Not that me wanting to help was going to do me any good, I knew I’d be as far from the fight as possible when it went down.  There was no doubting that Eric would hire more guards if he needed to keep me safe.

So I sat there worried about my friends and my husband as everyone else carried on as usual; Charlie and Mason even talked about random silly stuff. It seemed Mason and Charlie had developed a close friendship during their little trip, and Mason and developed an even closer relationship with Hauk.  Every few minutes Mason’s mind would flash with Hauk’s face and a small smile would tip his lips. I had no idea if Hauk felt the same, his only thought was of travel plans and who he thought he could call to help.  Unfortunately, all his acquaintances were younger than him.  That seemed to be the case with everyone in the room.  Godric was the oldest vampire they knew, and from what I gathered every call they made had confirmed that the vampires named by the Were were, in fact, all dead. With all the vampires dying by an unknown source, the Old World’s undead were ready to go into hiding for their own protection.

Mason received a text that had him up, clearing off his dishes, and out of the room in a flurry.  Normally I stayed out of everyone’s head, I wanted to give them their privacy. I felt that if they wanted me to know then they would tell me, but tonight I needed to know what was happening so I slipped into Mason’s head only to find out he had been summoned to Godric’s office.

From what I could tell, Mason loved working for Godric. He never asked him to do anything that would compromise his beliefs.  Mason was quite open-minded, but he didn’t want to be cleaning up dead bodies or to kill anyone himself. That seemed to be quite common in the Dallas area with the daymen that he knew of. So when Godric asked him to do anything he was quite happy to oblige.  He was quite shocked to find out he needed to head home and pack for an undetermined amount of time and then to come back to the house and pack for Godric.  We would be leaving shortly after first dark tomorrow night.  Mason was quick to gather his things and leave without a goodbye.

Charlie looked over at me inquisitively after watching Mason leave without a word. Knowing the job that Mason did for Godric made me question what Charlie did for us.  Was I supposed to tell him to go downstairs and pack for us too?  No, I knew the answer to that. Eric didn’t want anyone touching our things besides Pam unless it was it was unpreventable. He didn’t want their smell lingering for however long. I didn’t know how long someone’s smelled stayed since I couldn’t detect it in the first place. The only thing I did know was that Eric preferred for all our things to smell of me or me with a little him.  That was fine with me since I preferred the way he smelled too except I could only smell his unique scent on his pillow, clothes, or him.  I was happy that I didn’t have to smell all the dirty humans as he and Pam put it.

Smiling over at Charlie, I informed him that Mason was headed home to pack and that we were all leaving the next night to an undisclosed location.  Charlie being the laid-back guy he is merely shrugged. His only thoughts were on food and hoping that we would have a functioning kitchen if we did end up staying at some unknown vampire’s house.

Once I finished my meal and put my plate in the dishwasher, I made my way to Godric’s office. The second I stepped into the room all talking halted. Eric being the only one happy to see me after interrupting, held his arms out and waiting until I stepped inside before enveloping me in all that is Eric Northman.  I buried my face in his chest as I inhaled his wonderfully unique scent as he pulled me tighter and sent his love for me.  As my body warmed just from his love, I knew I would never get over just how wonderful it felt to feel his love.  It made me sad that it took me so long to love him back, again.  I hated that I had deprived him of this wonderful feeling for months after my accident.

Squeezing me tighter for a moment, Eric then placed a kiss on the top of my head before moving back slightly to look down upon me. Even though I knew that he could feel the whirlwind my emotions had been on, he didn’t call me out on it in front of everyone. Instead, he put his arm around my waist and acted as if all was well.

“Did you have an enjoyable dinner?” Eric asked as he continued to give me his full attention.

“It was fine,” I replied resting my head against his shoulder.

“I apologize for not joining you while you had your meal. We’ve all been quite busy,” he said quietly as he spoke against the top of my head.

“It’s alright. I enjoyed catching up with Charlie and Mason and I know that ya’ll have important matters to attend to,” I said hoping that everyone would go back to what they were doing before I had come into the room.

I watched as first Pam, then Hauk nodded at me before going back to scanning their phones and talking.  It wasn’t long before Godric and Quinn joined them.  The only one left was Eric, but he seemed to be too busy nuzzling my neck at the moment.

After placing a kiss on the spot between my neck and shoulder, Eric looked down at me with a soft smile playing on his lips. “Do I need to fill you in?”

“No,” I said shaking my head, feeling slightly ashamed that I had trespassed in all of their minds and they had been none the wiser.

“Sookie, it’s perfectly fine.  If I had been out of the room I would have kept my ears tuned to hear what was being planned.  It’s no different,” he clarified softly.  I started to protest, but he only shook his head and took me by the hand as we walked over to the others. “Everyone here knows that you’re a telepath and that you can read them just as they know that any one of us could have heard the conversation from the other room.”

“It’s not the same and you know it. They can’t block me if they don’t want me to know something,” I tried to explain.

“Tough titties,” he said keeping a straight face for only a moment before he was quickly pressing his lips together to keep from laughing.

Pam looked over at Eric with an annoyed look on her face.  She had heard one of the vermin use the saying at Fangtasia and was appalled by the thought of titties being tough. I, of course, didn’t know what titties were, but I was quickly schooled on the slang of both breasts and penises.

Titties of course, tits, jugs, melons, hooters, knockers, fun bags (one of Pam’s favorites), Bahama mamas, tatas, and luscious scoops of flesh (Pam’s absolute favorite). Penis, anaconda, baby maker, beaver cleaver, chub, cock, hard-on, dick, one-eyed monster, python, package, third leg, wang, wiener, the king. The list went on and on with both Eric and Pam not finding many of the terms amusing whatsoever, but it was all new to me and had me rolling on the floor laughing.

The skeptical looks on everyone’s faces after hearing Eric saying a phrase that was so unlike him, unless it was just the two of us, sent me into a fit of giggles. I quickly contained myself as I let my eyes sweep over Eric’s face and down his body. Lust rapidly replaced any lingering giggles.

Eric smirked and his whisper touched my ear, “Later.” His cool breath only ignited my libido all the more, but I knew I couldn’t take him away to appease my sexual appetite that could easily emerge with just a look at him.

Taking a few deep breaths, I calmed myself and listened to the various phone calls and watched as Eric pulled up a detailed map of the area we would be going to.  They were all busy planning and I was just standing around looking at them.  I had no knowledge of war and that’s what I was going to call this thing with the ancient vampire who’d gone crazy and wanted to kill Eric and Godric and every other vampire that was old enough to make a difference in vampire society.

After a few minutes of watching Eric zoom in and out of various areas, I leaned over and spoke quietly hoping not to disturb anyone.  “Is there anything I can do?” I asked already knowing the answer before he spoke.

“Not at this moment,” Eric said pulling me even closer to him.  “If you’re bored you could pack us a bag to take. I don’t know how long we’ll be gone, but we can come back and retrieve anything left here once Marcus is… dead.” Feeling Eric apprehension over whether or not it would bother me for someone to die, I rose on my tippy toes and placed a soft kiss on his lips before giving him a smile.

“Good, I need something to do instead of standing around. I’ll see you in a little while,” I said as I started to leave the room. Looking back into the room as I stepped around the corner I noticed Eric’s worried gaze.  I sent him my love before I skipped my way to the downstairs door.  It seemed it was going to take Eric a little while longer for him to realize that I loved him no matter what.  I knew he wasn’t a bad vampire and only killed when he needed to, not for sport.  I wasn’t going to make his life harder by making him worry what my reaction would be every time a tough situation occurred.

After bring in all the luggage that Charlie and Mason had set outside our door, I decided to retrieve our suitcase and pack up what we already had here.  I knew it was going to be stressful wherever we were going and I didn’t want to run out of clothes or our essential toiletries even though I knew that Eric or any of the other’s would have no problem sending out Charlie or Mason to get anything that we needed. It was what they were paid to do, but I wanted everyone to stay safe and only make trips if they were needed. Charlie, and it seemed Quinn, would be making sure that there was plenty of food around or eat it all and leave me to fend for myself.

I had just placed the last of my clothes in the suitcase when I heard the beep of the door before it hissed open and Eric walked in looking a little weary.  Taking off his boots by the bed he then laid down and typed out a message before he sat it on the nightstand, crossed his arms behind his head, and stared up at the ceiling.

Quickly, I zipped up the suitcase and made my way over to the bed shedding my clothes along the way. As I crawled up the bed, Eric continued to look up at the ceiling and didn’t even seem to realize I was in the same room let alone right beside him until I was snuggled up against his side with my hand trailing up his chest.  Although I knew that he was aware I was in there. He always knew where I was.

“Did you get everything all packed up?” he asked, looking down at my hand that had made its way back down his chest and underneath his shirt.

“Mmhmm,” I responded.

We were both quiet for a few more moments. My hand had stilled underneath his shirt and was resting in the space where his unbeating heart was.  The longer the silence the more worried I got. I was naked against Eric and he had yet to acknowledge it in any form.  Checking to see what was going through his mind, I only found his thoughts flying too rapidly for me to catch one single thing and he was thinking in another language. Most likely Old Norse.

When we left the United States to go travel, I was going to make sure that he thought me as many languages as I could learn. I had the possibility of living forever so surely I’d be able to learn all the languages Eric already knew and maybe even a few more if I wanted to.

“Eric,” I whispered nervously, leaning on my elbow to look down at his handsome face.  “You’re starting to worry me.”

His gaze dipped to my breasts before slowly making its way back to eyes. “I didn’t mean to worry you,” he finally replied, wrapping his arms around me, pulling me in closer.  “I want to make sure no harm comes to you and I’m running through every possibility of what could happen.  One night of planning is not much when going up against an ancient.  We don’t want to rush, but now that we know that Marcus knows where we are we cannot stay here any longer until he is dead.  But I think for now, I’ve done all that I can on that front and need to pay special attention to you.   I don’t foresee you and I getting much time to be together like this for a while and I want to make the most of the time was have together.”

Eric stripped at vampire speed and was back in bed and on top of me so quickly that I actually gasped.  You gotta love how fast a vampire can move.

“My beautiful wife, my bonded,” he stated huskily before dipping his head for a scorching kiss.

All thought left my mind as Eric’s tongue caressed mine and his hips followed the same movement.  At first our bodies moved slowly, sensually, as we showed each other how much we loved each other.  I had barely caught my breath when Eric moved on the bed so that he was sitting on his heels. He pulled me up and around until my back was flush against his chest and I was sitting on his legs. He swept my hair off my neck and licked and nibbled his way up until he reached my ear. As his tongue traced the shell of my ear, his hands moved from squeezing and massaging my breasts to grip my hips.  His fingers dug into my flesh has Eric pulled me down onto his shaft. Throwing my head back, I wrapped one arm around his neck as my other hand went to my breasts.  Eric moved me in a hurried but decadent pace that had us both chanting each other’s names as we reached and crashed over our peaks.

Eric didn’t stop.

He kept moving our bodies all over the bed and room until I was putty in his hands and breathless.  Eric was showing me that we would beat our adversary, that nothing could stop us, and that we were alive.

Resting on top of Eric, I slowly caught my breath as he sent shivers down my spine as his fingers ghosted up and down my back with one hand and his other was weaved through my hair.

“Sated?” he asked cockily from above me.  He damn well knew I was. My bones felt liquefied. My only response was a soft grunt.  Eric chuckled and pulled a blanket on top of me causing me to sigh and sink deeper into him as I fell asleep.

OoOoO

I woke to Eric’s nose trailing down my body. He really knew how to wake up a girl.  A smile spread across my face as I looked down at him.

“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty, we don’t have long before we have to get up and get ready.  We are leaving at first dark so that we can make it to our destination before sun up and make sure that our accommodations are acceptable and secure.”

“You doubt they will be?” I asked the last word dying on my lips as I felt Eric’s tongue swirl around my belly button.

Looking up at me, Eric let me know that the house we were staying at would be safe, but he didn’t want to take any chances. Through the bond, I could feel that he was certain of our security and I knew we would be more than okay. Feeling my absolute trust in him, Eric kissed me breathless before a mischievous look crossed his face.

Sliding down the bed even further I thought Eric was going to worship me with his tongue, but to my surprise he continued to move down until he was at the end of the bed. Grabbing one foot and then the other, he smirked and pulled my body down to meet his. When I was about to question what he was doing, he kissed his way from my knee to my ankle before skimming his nose up the other leg and then nipped his way down. He continued placing kisses, licks and nibbles up and down my legs almost to the point I couldn’t take it anymore.  Then he struck… running his nose along my instep, tickling me.  I squealed and writhed trying to get away from his torturous tickling.

Jag älskar dig med allt som jag är, min Sookie.  Jag kommer att låta någon skada komma till dig.

OoOoO

Later on the car was quiet as Eric, Quinn, Charlie, and I contemplated what would await us when we reached El Paso. One thing I was certain about was that we would be victorious. We had to be.  I couldn’t imagine my life without Eric, Pam, Hauk, Charlie, Godric, Quinn, or Mason.  They weren’t just my friend’s they were family.


	13. My World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has not been beta'd. All mistakes are my own.

Sighing I kissed Eric's chest before sitting up and started to make my way out of bed.

"Sookie," Eric questioned, quickly sitting and grabbing my arm before I got too far.

Instead of responding I sat down on the edge of the bed and kept quiet. I didn't want to make this night or any night more difficult for Eric so I planned to keep my feelings to myself. I knew I couldn't actually keep him from feeling me, but I was hoping he’d let my mood for the last few days slide.  

“Each night you’ve becoming increasingly upset. I wanted to wait until you came and talked to me, but my strategy doesn’t seem to be working.  I don’t want to pressure you, Sookie but...,” he quietly left off from behind me.

When I continued to say nothing and stare at the floor, I felt the bed spring up as Eric’s weight left it. It was only a matter of seconds before his long, bare feet were taking up the space that I had been looking at.

“I don’t understand,” I heard Eric say with confusion and hurt lacing his words from above me before he kneeled down in front of me. Taking my chin in between his thumb and index finger, he gently raised my chin until our eyes met. Watching as his worried eyes sought for the answers,  I didn’t want to give and feeling how much I was hurting him, my eyes quickly filled with tears and spilled down my cheeks. Before my vision became blurred I witnessed Eric’s eyes rim red. “Have I…”

[ ](http://www.iamgyllene.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Eric-red-eyes.jpg)

“No,” I sobbed out as I threw myself off the bed and into Eric’s chest. Burying my face against his neck, I continued to cry as I felt Eric’s emotions continue to spiral along with my own. This seemed to be the one downside to our bond that I had experienced. The more I felt Eric getting upset the more I got upset and the more I got upset and cried, he got upset.

Holding me against his chest with one hand on my back and the other on my head, Eric hummed and rocked me as he sat on the floor. After a few minutes of our rioting emotions, I felt all of Eric’s negative emotions slowly slip away as he pushed his love for me and what I could only describe as him trying to let me know that I could safely explain without him bombarding me with his own emotions.

I knew our time was almost up for the night and I needed to explain why I had been upset lately and why it had escalated into something tonight that it shouldn’t have. I had only wanted to spare him my feelings and instead I had got upset in epic proportion. Just thinking about how I had made him feel brought tears to my eyes once again.

“No more, please,” he gruffly whispered. “I…”

“No more,” I interrupted. I tried to stand only for Eric’s arms to tighten around me. Leaning my head back, we looked at each other quietly for a few moments before either one of us spoke.

“I can’t fix whatever’s upsetting you if you don’t tell me,” Eric softly spoke, but his eyes begged for me to tell him why I had not talked to him.

“You can’t fix this, Eric,” I whispered averting my eyes to look at anything but him.

“I can try,” he implored.  “I will always do everything within my ability to make you happy.” Looking away, his Adam’s apple bobbed a few times before he looked back at me. “Even if you being happy means you no longer want to be with me.”

“NO! That’s not what this is at all, Eric!  Can’t you feel that I love you? You are my world. Maybe too much,” I murmured the last.

“What do you mean too much? You are my whole world. You are my life, my heart, my soul. My everything. You have been since the moment you stepped into my life,” he responded with no small amount of hurt in his voice.

“Eric,” I whispered as tears filled my eyes. “I didn’t want to say anything because what I’m feeling is out of your control. And mine.” Eric started to open his mouth, but I quietly and effectively shushed him with a soft kiss. “We’ve been here for two weeks. Two very long weeks were I only see you for an hour when you wake up. Once the sun sets you leave and only come back with a few minutes left until dawn. I don’t ask to spend time with you then because I know that if you do stay up past dawn then that’s time I might lose at night.

“While you’re gone I try to engage myself with Charlie, Mason, and Quinn, but it doesn’t take long for me to start worrying and missing you. I understand why you are gone and what you have to do, but I didn’t think it would take this long or that I’d hardly see you.  I feel selfish that I want you all to myself. I can only remember spending almost every waking hour of the night with you or at least in the same building. I’m thinking it might be unhealthy how much I want to be with you.  Maybe you are too much of my world if I can barely function without you near me,” I explained.

“That’s not possible,” he smirked, but then turned serious. “I understand that we have been here much longer than anyone of us expected. We have one chance to take down Marcus and every aspect must be perfect before we strike. I know that you miss  and worry about me and I hate that. I hate the whole situation.  You shouldn’t have to be stuck inside day and night like a prisoner, but I can’t risk anything happening to you.  We are in a very dangerous situation that we are all trying to figure out a way that no casualties are lost along they way.”

“I know and I understand,” I stated before resting my forehead against his.  “I’m sorry for tonight. I didn’t mean for my emotions to get the best of me. I’ll try to do better and think of the long run.”

“Perhaps we can come up with a different solution that will appease the both of us. What do you think, dear one?”

“What do you have in mind?” I questioned.

“You can come with me tonight to where Pam, Godric, Hauk, and Thalia are staying. We’ll leave Quinn here since Thortin will also be there.  This will give Thalia a chance to feed well before we go to take Marcus down,” he replied, looking up at me with his soulful eyes shining brightly.

“I’m sure Thalia will be happy to get away from babysitting duty. All she does is stare at me with a scowl on her face until I excuse myself and go to bed.  Have you ever seen her smile or anything  close to it?” I asked in a whisper, almost as if she’d know I was talking about her and rush over to strangle me the second the sun went down.

“Close,” Eric stated, his eyes turning fierce as his emotions went from calm to exhilarated and headed toward what I felt from him the night the Were’s had surrounded Godric’s. “I can only to pray to my Gods that you never see her smile.”

“Why?” I asked alarmed.

“If you see Thalia smile it will be after a very satisfying battle and in the throws of bloodlust and you know how dangerous a vampire can be during bloodlust.”

Wrapping my arms around his neck a little tighter I kissed his forehead thinking about the delightful way Eric took me after he had fought and killed many of those Were’s.

Tilting his head to get a better look at me, Eric gave me a fangy grin before peppering kisses up and down my neck. “We don’t have time for whatever you’re thinking about. Especially if you want to come with me tonight, Lover, but I will make sure we get back here with enough time so that I can ravage your body and leave you sated.”

“I want to come with you even though I know everyone will be busy. At least I’ll be able to be in the same room with you. I will be able to stay in the room, right?”

“Of course you will, dear one. How else would I be able to keep my eye on you?” he replied before swooping in and placing a toe curling, panty melting kiss on me that left me breathless.  

OoOoO

Little did I know that once I was in the room all the vampires would start to speak a language I’d never heard before. Well, it’s possible I’d heard it before but not since my accident. At first I even tried to listen to their thoughts but they weren’t even thinking in English. I knew for a fact that until that night whenever I had taken a peek into Pam’s head she was always thinking in English even when she and Eric were speaking in another language. I had a sneaking suspicion that Eric had commanded her to think and speak in whatever the hell language they were all speaking. Obviously I should have been using my time away from Eric in a more productive manner like learning a new language or three.

Maybe I could get Thalia to teach me so we wouldn’t just be sitting across from one another staring and bored out of our minds. I don’t think Thalia was bored; I think she went into downtime, but I’d been warned that Thalia was not the warm and fuzzy type so I took no offense to her quiet scowl. I knew she’d never hurt me.

I’d been sitting in a chair off in a corner of the room with my feet tucked up underneath me reading a book that I’d found sitting on the table. If I wouldn’t have found that book I would have been staring at Eric and the rest of the vampires in the room wishing that I could go into downtime. I should have known that I’d be just as bored here as I had been at our safe house. The only good thing about Eric bringing me along was that I knew everyone was safe and I could sneak a peek at him whenever I felt like it. With Eric so honed into my emotions, he knew when I was looking and give me a wink or a secret smile to let me know he was thinking about me too.

When my stomach made an unexpected growling noise that could contend with the likes of Charlie or Quinn all eyes were on me. My eyes met with Eric’s briefly before I felt my blush heat my ears.

“Why don’t we take a break to feed so that Eric can take care of his human,” Thortin said distastefully. “We’ll reconvene in an hour. Will that be long enough?” He said with his eyes narrowed at Eric.

I could feel Eric’s ire rising, but one look at Godric shaking his head. Eric gave him a curt nod before sweeping us both out of the room and into the night’s sky.

Neither of us said a word as Eric flew us through the humid night. Instead of trying to discern his emotions, I gazed over his shoulder at the dark sky that was riddled with twinkling stars and enjoyed this small amount of time we could be together and in his arms.  He didn't fly for long. Maybe ten minutes before he landed and placed me on my feet. We were in a parking lot of a fast food joint. There weren't many options this late at night and I knew there wasn't time to order or eat at a restaurant.

I didn't want to anger Thortin anymore then I already had and I knew that if he narrowed his eyes or spoke to Eric in any manner other then with complete respect Eric would very likely end him since his anger was still making itself known through the bond.

“Will you be able to find yourself something to eat that you like here?” Eric asked as he ushered me inside.

“Yes, I think so. One thing I’ve learned about these silly fast food restaurants is that they love to discontinue making whatever people seem to love,” I said shaking my head. “It makes no sense to me. You’d think that if an item or dish was popular that would the one thing they’d always keep around, but I’ve noticed they like to take what I like and then add a bunch of unappetizing items to the menu,” I explained as I made my way to the counter.

Eric was quiet and looked at his shoes as I ordered and waited for my meal. I kept quiet waiting for him to see if he’d calm down before we went back to the other safehouse. I wasn't sure if it was possible going by the napkin holder Eric had smashed between his hands making it a pile of junk the fast food restaurant could no longer use.

“Do you often eat fast food with Charlie?” Eric asked, breaking the silence.

“Sometimes,” I answered shrugging. Looking up I saw Eric inspecting my food with about as much disdain as Thortin had used to speak to him earlier. “Sometimes,” I continued on. “I find something I like a lot and get a craving for it. Charlie indulges me and will keep taking me to eat it until I’m tired of it. This,” I said, pointing at my burger and fries, “is my latest craving.”

“I can tell you are enjoying it immensely by all the little noises you’re making as you eat, but surely it can’t be healthy for you.”

“I don't eat it often. Does it bother you?” I asked quietly as I watched him set down the scrunched up napkin holder.

“Does what bother me?” he asked giving me his full attention.

“Does what I eat affect the way I taste to you? Although I don't eat fast food a lot I thought that since I couldn't age or get sick, food wouldn't affect my health.” Had I misunderstood when he explained we are bound together?

“No, you cannot get sick nor can food affect your health. If there was a possibility that one day you'd get cancer or some rare disease then we would still have the plan for me to turn you when you reached thirty. As for what you eat and the way your blood tastes, no food doesn't seem to affect it in any way,” Eric replied.

“Does what normal people eat make their blood taste different?” I asked curiously.

“Yes, to some extent it does, but you being a hybrid seems to cancel out that effect. Luckily you're just for me,” he answered. Once he was finished he waggled his eyebrows at me causing me to giggle.

Pointing to the ruined napkin holder I asked, “What was that all about?”

“Thortin,” he answered with a snap.

When I realized he wasn't going to say anymore, I sent him my curiosity as I finished eating.

“He doesn't care much for humans and I didn't appreciate the snide looks and comments he was making,” he said with a growl.

“It wasn’t that bad.”

“You didn’t see the looks he was shooting in your direction when you weren’t looking nor did you understand the things he was saying for most of the night,” Eric responded, the anger evident in his voice.

“Yes, I didn’t understand what was said for most of the night. Everyone was speaking in a language I don’t know,” I said giving him a pointed look. “Who could have possibly given them the idea to not speak English? On all the night that you’ve met have you been speaking something other than English?”

Shaking his head no, Eric sat on his side of the booth with perfect posture and a blank face as he continued to watch me. I could feel that he felt he had done the right thing and he wasn’t going to back down. I understood, but it seemed that their planning didn’t only include strategizing. Not that there was anything I could do about the comments Thortin had made about me, but I knew I wouldn’t be going back there after tonight so that meant that I’d be back at our safe house without Eric again. I also now understood why Eric had gotten so mad at the comments I did understand.

“We should probably head back. I don’t want to cause any more trouble tonight,” I said as I took my last bite.

“Sookie,” Eric whispered as he stretched his arm out across the table and took my hand in his. “You are never any trouble. I don’t want you to think that way about yourself. Ever.”

[ ](http://www.iamgyllene.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/102115-1.png)

“I think if I asked anyone that was in that room tonight besides you they’d say I’m at inconvenience that none of you need right now. I don’t want to cause any problems between you and Thortin.”

“You. Are. Not. An. Inconvenience,” Eric stated fiercely. “Only Thortin would say you are an inconvenience and that’s because he believes vampires are the most superior of all species. Everyone else in that room is your friend. You have shown them all kindness that they’ve never experienced from another human. You want nothing from them but friendship and you’ve gained that and their loyalty. Don’t waste your time worrying about Thortin, my sweet Sookie.”

Eric had us quickly out of our booth and the fast food restaurant and in the air before he crushed his mouth to mine. His fingers tangled in my hair as I felt our bodies rise and his tongue caress against mine.  My own hands found purchase wrapped around his shoulders and let Eric make me forget about everything in the world but him. I think if the world was ending and Eric was kissing me I would be happy in his arms oblivious to anything and everything.

Unfortunately, Eric couldn’t kiss me all night or do more. He needed to get back and I needed to act as if I was fine with Thortin being a jackass. It didn’t take long for us to get back to the other safe house and for their strategizing to commence. It also didn’t take long for their hushed words in another language to escalate into growls. One minute they were all huddled around a table with multiple blueprints spread out and the next Godric was in between a snarling Thortin and a very growly Eric.  

Whatever Thortin was saying, I could tell it was not good. He kept glaring at Eric as he spit out words that became louder and louder.  Even though I knew that Godric was much older than Eric it looked as if he was having a hard time keeping Eric from attacking.

I knew things were escalating when Thalia came to crouch in front of me with her fangs down. I watched as Godric spoke in a calm quiet voice first to Thortin and then to Eric. Godric continued to speak quietly as he de-escalated the situation and Thortin finally took a step back.  Eric said one final sentence before he strode across the room to me, gave a deep nod in Thalia’s direction, and then took my hand as we walked out of the room and then out the front door.

I wanted to ask questions because of course the entire fight or whatever the hell that had been back there was completely in another language, but I kept quiet. The more we flew toward our safe house with the wind in our hair the more Eric calmed down. By the time we made it to our bedroom, Eric was no longer angry. He was something altogether better as he turned on the water in the luxurious bathtub and then slipped off first my clothes and then his own. I’d much rather tangle my body with Eric’s in our giant tub then to know what Thortin had been saying about me.


	14. An Unexpected Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is not betaed. All mistakes are mine.

_Sookie._

_Sookie._

_Sookie._

My eyes popped open and swept the dark room, but found no one but my Viking, who was nestled in at my back with his arm across my hip and his hand underneath my nightgown and laying on my stomach.

Confused I shifted until I could reach my phone and saw that it was only a little after ten a.m. Usually, I slept until the early afternoon, and I had been up until dawn with a very amorous vampire, so I had no idea what had woken me so early.

From what little I gathered after Eric showed back up at the safe house after only being gone for a little over an hour, there wasn’t much of a meeting. During that time, Eric had our bond muted to the point that I only knew that he was alive.  I would have been more worried, but Pam had sent me a text stating that everything was fine. She even promised on all her shoes that I had nothing to worry about.

I wasn’t sure if I ever worried this much before I had amnesia, but I had a feeling that I did.  How could I not have? I loved Eric with everything I had in me and I had less than a years worth of memories with him. I couldn’t imagine what I’d feel as the years progressed. Although it seemed that our lives up until my amnesia were relatively drama free with the exception of when vampires revealed themselves to the public and opening up Fangtasia, even then it sounds like life was busy but easy.

When Eric arrived last night, I had barely uttered a sound before his lips crashed against mine and everyone scurried from the room. One hand fisted in my hair as the other grabbed my ass and pulled me up against him. Using his vampire speed, we were in the room we were staying in and undressed. I never had a chance to question what was going on. Once I had caught my breath and could remotely use my limbs again, Eric was once again silencing my moans with his talented mouth until just after dawn.

_"_ _Sookie.”_

All thoughts of last night disappeared after hearing Hauk calling to me.

 _“Hauk, are you okay?”_ I asked cautiously.

 _“Delightfully fine after that pleasant memory,”_ He answered with a chuckle.

_“Hauk!”_

_“I’m sorry. I should have interrupted you, but it was just too good. That was incredible. I could even sense your emotions. You are one lucky lady.“_

_“Was there a reason you woke me up?”_  I asked irritatedly.

_“Yes, and it’s crucial. Can you come to my room?”_

_“Why your room?_

_“I don’t want the others to hear,”_ he explained simply.

_“Okay. Give me a few minutes.”_

In my rush to take care of my human needs, I tripped and stubbed my toe hard enough that I thought I saw Eric flinch in his sleep. It was either that or my rapidly blinking eyes were playing tricks on me.  Either way, I slowed down and tried not to disturb Eric.  It was too early in the morning, and I didn’t want anything to delay my time with my Viking tonight.

After disengaging our door, I quietly made my way down the hall toward Hauk’s room. If he didn’t want anyone to know whatever he wanted to talk about, then I didn’t want Quinn to know that I was up and making my way to Hauk’s room. Although if he was awake he probably would have heard me. Luckily, he was sound asleep as was everyone else in the house.

Before I could knock on the door, the door opened with a nervous Hauk standing behind it.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I stepped inside.

He replied with a tense smile, “I’m fine, but I have something I want to talk to you about. Let’s sit and I’ll tell you all about it.”

Covering a yawn with my hand, I sat on one of the chairs. Hoping this wouldn’t take long, I gave Hauk my full attention.

“I don’t know what Eric’s told you about our nightly meetings, but we have yet to come up with a way to kill Marcus without one of us going down with him.  He’s too old and powerful. Although I do think Eric would offer up Thortin after the last few nights.” Hauk’s knowing grin made me want to ask what had happened last night, but I was too tired for curiosity.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” I said interrupting him. “but are you going somewhere with this?  I’ve only had a few hours asleep, and I’d really like to go back to sleep. Don’t you need more sleep?” I asked hoping the answer was yes so we could both go back to bed.

“After I’m done with what I need to tell you, I don’t think we will be getting much sleep today.”

“You shouldn’t have woke me without making coffee.” Another yawn escaped and this time, I didn’t try to hide it.

“If I made coffee, I’m afraid it would rouse all the humans and your bodyguard, and I need them to stay asleep for a little longer.”

“And why is that?”

“I’m hoping you will agree to go on a little field trip with me today. One that no one can know about.”

“I won’t hide anything from Eric no matter what it is,” I replied trying to keep calm. Hauk knew how close Eric and I were. I couldn’t believe…

“Sookie, relax,” Hauk said placing his hand lightly on my knee. “Tonight you can tell Eric, but for now, no one knows.  For now, just hear me out. I think you’ll agree.”

“As long as I can tell Eric it should be fine,” I responded more hopeful.

“We’ll see about that. So Marcus doesn’t ever stay at any of his residences that we know about. He’s constantly on the move which is smart. It’s what I’d do if a band of vampires that I was trying to kill found out I was after them.  Any vampire could glamour any human to break into a house and kill him.”

“He has security though, right?” I asked. Marcus wouldn’t be that stupid.

“Yes, a human couldn’t get past his security, but a day-walking vampire and his fairy hybrid friend could,” he finished with a timid smile.

“You want for me and you to kill him? Are you crazy? If the five of you can’t figure out a way to kill him and not get killed, how do you expect me and you to kill him?”

Maybe Hauk was delirious from not going to sleep?

Had he drunk tainted blood?

Maybe Thortin was poisoning them and working with Marcus?

Hauk’s rumbling laughter broke me out of my thoughts. “Sookie,” he laughed out and wiped away a blood tear. “No one’s poisoning anyone or drinking tainted blood. I don’t even know if it’s possible for me to become delirious from no sleep. Don’t you want all this to be over? You and your husband can travel. You could visit where you had your honeymoon and so many more places starting tomorrow if we stopped this  _today_.  I know you want that. I know you miss Eric, and this whole ordeal has been hard on you. He knows it too, and he’s trying his hardest to try and come up with the right plan, but I don’t think there will ever be a plan that’s better than the opportunity we’ve got right now. Today is our one chance to get to Marcus.”

Hauk knew just what to say to get me to agree with just about anything.  I wasn't sure it had been that obvious that I was miserable or if Hauk had been inside my head during our stay, either way, he was right.

“Tell me what you know that makes you think we can do this.”

“The Sheriff would be proud of you,” Hauk said with a genuine smile. “Even though you want this, you’re not going to do something stupid. We have people at all of his known resting places, and they report in every morning if he’s there or not. They leave a message; I listen to them after I rise since I’m up the earliest, and then I let everyone know what was reported. Every night I have the same message for them, he didn’t show up at any of the places we know about. He’s been like a ghost until last night.”

Really? Now that had my attention.

“This morning I listened to all the messages, and there was one saying that Marcus had stayed at one of the houses that we’re keeping an eye on.  His only security is two Weres that are stationed outside, and they’ll be patrolling until sundown. Now if I eliminate the outside security, I think I’ve come up with a way to bypass his inner security,” he explained.

“How can we bypass his security?”

“While I deal with the Weres, I want you to keep a lookout and your shields down.  Once they are taken care of, I’ll maintain a lookout while you… I’m not sure about this, I mean Sookie, you are so sweet and kind, and I don’t want to taint you or make you regret it later.”

“If this will make Eric, you, and everyone else safe from that crazy Marcus I won’t regret it,” I promised.

“You may feel that way now, but that could all change tomorrow, next week, or a year from now.  Plus your husband is not going to be happy about this.”

“You’re right that Eric will be upset, but if this is the first time he’s been in any of the houses you know about since we’ve been here this could be our only shot for quite some time. What do you need me to do?” I asked wondering what he’d want me to do and if I would one day regret it.

“I’ve been thinking for hours and couldn’t find any other way for me not to include you.  I would if I could. I do not want the wrath of Eric Northman to reign down on me, but I see no other way. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you. I’d lay down my life for yours.”

I believed Hauk and not only because I could read his mind. I was beyond touched that he would even think it let alone state it.

“What do I need to do?”

“Set the house on fire,” he replied instantly.

“Wouldn’t he have preventive measures against fire?” I asked knowing that from what little knowledge I had of our house and Godric’s that the bedrooms ‘resting places’ were fire proof.

“You would think with all his evasive maneuvers over the last few weeks, but from what we’ve found about that particular residence, it doesn’t. He doesn’t stay there often, and he must think we know nothing about it. As far we can tell he doesn’t even know that we are here in El Paso. We got lucky!”

“Where does he think we are?” I asked confused. This guy had been out to kill us, and now he didn’t know where we were?

“That we do not know, and if you think this is a trap don’t worry about it, we’ll be able to read it from the Weres and if for some reason you cannot set the house on fire then we’re done. We’ll come back, and no one will be the wiser,” he stated.

“If we’re going to do this we need to leave before Charlie, Quinn or Mason wake up. I don’t want to have to explain to them why we’re leaving or have to lie to them. I don’t think I’m a very good liar,” I said with my nose scrunched up.

I had good reason to think I was a bad liar. Pam had informed me that I used to have the best poker face, but now if I read something I didn’t like you could see it plain as day or night as she put it, on my face. I had tried to avoid answering her questions about why Eric had been unhappy lately. I attempted to pretend I didn’t know what she was talking about since I didn’t want to discuss it with anyone and I even tried to lie about it. Once. She laughed in my face about how obvious it was that I had lied. I didn’t want to lie to her, but she wouldn’t drop the subject. Luckily Eric told her to drop it.

Hauk laughed but sobered at my incredulous look before speaking.

“We can go as soon as you get ready and have enough coffee in you to function.  How does that sound?”

“Sounds good, but I have to admit I’m nervous. If we run into trouble…”

“I’ll protect you with me life. I’d give up my day-walking secret if it protected you. Don’t worry, my friend,” Hauk vowed. “What else are you nervous about?” he asked quietly.

“Eric,” I whispered. “I know that he’s going to be beyond mad that I’m doing this with you, but if we can stop Marcus, no one gets hurt besides the bad guys, and we can move on with our lives, I can’t say no. I want to go home and travel with my husband. I’m being selfish.”

“You are far from selfish and once Eric calms down he’ll see that you were in no danger and be happy that he can finally show you the world. I still can’t believe he paid all that money to get out of his contract. If Sophie Ann weren't in need of money, she would have made it a hell of a lot harder for her favorite Sheriff to buy out his contract.” Shaking his head, he smiled at me with softness. “Actually, I can believe that he’d pay to be able to spend his every minute with you anywhere you wanted. The mighty Northman would do anything for you. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I’d never believe it.”

“Is it really that big of a deal?” I asked getting up. I was in serious need of coffee if we were going to be leaving anytime soon. I was equal amounts of excited that I could do this for my vampires and scared that something would happen, and either Hauk or I would get hurt or killed. Hauk didn’t know about Eric and I being bound unless he’d read it from me, but I’d always been sure to block my thoughts when I thought about anything to do with us being bound. I trusted Hauk, but I’d learn for Eric that I shouldn’t trust him with everything. What if he found out we’re bound and killed me to kill Eric? Did I think that could happen? No, but, I couldn’t risk myself with the knowledge that I’d be putting Eric in danger also. Even if we weren’t bound, I couldn’t do that to Eric. He’d already lost me once. Tears filled my eyes with the remembrance of how much Eric was hurt after my accident.

“Sookie, if you feel so strongly about going we won’t go,” Hauk murmured with a gentle hand on my arm.

“It’s not that. I was…” I took a deep breath. “I was thinking about Eric after my accident. You know how worried he was when we trained, and he wasn’t with me. I don’t ever want to do anything like that to him again. He may act like it, but he’s not over my accident.”

“I do know how much he worries about you. It took him six months for us to be able to meet without him. I have to believe he trusts me more now than he did then.”

“I don’t see how he can’t. You didn’t have to come and put your life on the line, and you helped save Godric,” I replied.

“Go,” Hauk said while motioning me out of the room.  “We can talk in the car, but we really should get out of the house before everyone wakes up. If they had any idea what we’re up to they’d try to talk us out of it.”

“I’d ask you to make me coffee since you’re quieter than I am, but I doubt you know how. Do you think the smell will wake them up?”

“Possibly,” he answered. “How about we pick you up some coffee and breakfast on our way?”

“Perfect! Let me get dressed really quick and I’ll meet you out at the car.”

OoOoO

Hauk and I had been sitting in my SUV for a little over an hour listening to the Weres that were patrolling the house and anyone else in the vicinity that we could pick up. Which was no one. The house we were staking out was out in the middle of nowhere with its nearest neighbor about five miles away.  We wanted to make sure no one was expected to show up, but I was starting to get antsy.

“I think you may have had too much coffee,” Hauk remarked from the driver’s seat.

“I’m sorry,” I said and stopped bouncing my leg up and down. “I want to get this over and done with. I didn’t realize how far away the house would be. By the time we get back to the safe house, it will be close to the time Eric gets up. If he wakes up and I’m not there, he’s going to freak out.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Hauk chuckled.

“Then let’s do this.”

“Okay. Okay,” he replied with his hands up. “I’ll drop the gas when I reach the first Were, and you take if from there. Remember to wear the gloves I gave you and after you start the fire, I’ll meet you at the tree line. If anything happens, anything at all, you call me.”

“I promise.”

I barely had the words out of my mouth before I saw Hauk’s form zipping into the tree line. Following him, I ran until I spotted the red gas can sitting on the ground next to an unconscious man. Barely giving him a glance, I grabbed the can and started to circle the house and splash the exterior until I was sure I’d gone completely around it. Pulling out one of the matchbooks, I quickly pulled a match free and scrapped it against the strip that Hauk had shown me.

Nothing.

I tried, again and again,  and got nothing.

Of course, Hauk couldn’t show me exactly how to do it, and I couldn’t practice in the car. Neither of us wanted Hauk to go up in flames, and I honestly didn’t believe it would be difficult to strike a match.

Throwing the match down on the ground, I pulled another free. Closing the matchbook with the match inside on the strip, I swiped it through quickly. To my astonishment, it came out on fire.

Yes!

Before the flame could reach my fingers, I threw the match against the house and watched as the flame spread until I could see nothing but fire. Yellow and red flames licked up to the roof as I felt the heat on my face.

I wanted to make sure that the whole house burned. I wasn’t taking any chances that it would go out, and Marcus would live to see another night. Quickly I moved around the house again, pulling out another match, lighting the match and then throwing it at the house as I watched another side become engulfed in flames. I continued to do this until the entire house was consumed by fire and I didn’t think my face could take another second of heat before I too started to burn.

Slowly I started to make my way toward the tree line but stopped when I heard a scream. It was the worst sound imaginable, and I knew that it was Marcus.  It didn’t last long. Only a couple of seconds but his howling cry was etched into my brain for the rest of my life.

Cool hands rounded my shoulders causing me to jump.

“Sookie, we need to go,” Hauk said in a whisper at my ear.

Nodding I turned back to the direction of the car and let Hauk lead me through the trees. After helping me into the car, Hauk remained silent for most of the way back to the safe house as I stared out the window and watched the scenery slip by. It was getting late and wouldn’t be long until Eric was up for the night. I had no idea how to tell him what we’d done and for the first time that I could remember I was scared of what Eric’s reaction would be.

“We did it,” Hauk said quietly from beside me. “You and I did what seemed impossible,” he said a little louder.

“I know,” I responded back just as quietly.

“Are you having second thoughts?”

“No, I’m happy that you are all safe now.”

“But?” he questioned.

“I killed someone today. Even if that someone was evil, I killed him so that my husband and my friends would be safe. It’s going to take some time for me to come to terms with what I’ve done and I need to do it before Eric wakes up.”

Patting my shoulder, Hauk gave me a grim smile. “Even though he’s going to be upset you’ll still be able to talk to your bonded. You know it’s wrong to kill people, but that’s all. Your bonded was born of a different time. A time when many of his people had already killed by the time they were fifteen years of age or younger. That was the norm back then, and it’s very normal for vampires to kill their enemies. Hell, some even kill just for fun or because they’re annoyed. In this day and age, you are allowed to protect yourself. It’s called self-defense.”

“It isn’t self-defense when you go and burn the person alive in their own home,” I snapped.

“Not for humans it isn’t but it is for vampires. Marcus has been killing vampires of the last nine months all over the world and has gotten rid of almost all the ancient ones. He was coming after your husband, your friends, and you next. He only needed to find you. You heard what those Weres thought when they surrounded Godric’s house and what they and Marcus were going to do. Trust me this was self-defense,” he calmly explained.

“Do you think I’m being stupid?”

“No,” he replied instantly. “Before I was a vampire, I had seen many people die by my Master and then Maker, but I’d never killed anyone. The first time I killed, it wasn’t by my choosing it was by my Makers command. It was a needless death that was spurred on by his paranoia. He wouldn’t listen to me when I tried to plead with him that the woman was of no danger to us, but he wouldn’t see reason. First he made me kill her and then I was punished for trying to talk him out of it. It took me a long time to get over killing that innocent woman, but when I next killed it was out of self-defense. It was either him, or me and I chose me. You killed one today but saved many. More than you or I will probably ever know. I don’t know what you and your bonded’s plans are, but I do know that you and he will find a way to be together far longer than a human lifetime. It’s sad but true that if you live for very long in the Supernatural world, then you will eventually end up killing someone, or they will kill you.”

“So you’re saying eventually I would have killed someone so today I just got it over with ahead of schedule?” I asked cynically.

“That or your bonded would have done the job for you or died trying. He can’t be with you one hundred percent of the time. A fact I know he hates but is inevitable. If you were turned into a vampire it is very likely you’d be a day-walker like I am or if you continue to drink your bonded’s blood you will stay young for a very long time with being part fairy. Either way, eventually you’ll be more comfortable and want to go out without your husband. Especially with the continued drinking of his blood, you’re not going to want to stay inside all day and wait for night to go out just to do simple tasks that most do during the day. I know you value your time with your bonded,” he explained as if he was now a psychic and knew of our future. “Now go inside and take a shower and try to calm down. You reek of smoke.”

Looking through the windshield, I saw we were parked in front of the safe house. Mason, Charlie, and Quinn were all looking out the windows at us. They all seemed surprised, but Quinn also looked upset.

“Thank you, Hauk.”

“For what?” he questioned.

“For talking to me and giving me some perspective,” I answered as I got out of the car and made my way to the front door.

“Anytime,” he replied opening the door and ushering us passed a gaping Charlie and Mason.

I noticed Hauk give Mason a wink and Mason blush before looking away as we made our way to our rooms.

“I’ll advise everyone leave until we’ve either heard from you or the sheriff, or it’s almost dawn,” Hauk said as he left me out my door.

“That’s probably wise. Thank you again,” I responded before putting in my code and hustling inside. First to engage the door and then to wash all the smoky smell off of me.

I was on my third set of shampooing and conditioning my hair when the bathroom door flew open to crack against the wall to a very naked and worried vampire.

Wiping the water out of my eyes I came face to face with Eric’s wet, hard sculpted chest and abs.

Pressing my head to his chest, I felt Eric’s nose in my hair before I heard the sniff. Immediately my nerves skyrocketed, and I tried to pull away only to be met with his arms tightening around me until it was almost painful.

“Why do you smell of smoke?” Eric harshly whispered.

“I… uh,” was my only reply before he interrupted.

“And why are you so nervous that you’re trembling? What happened today while I was in my day rest?” He growled out.

Wrapping my arms around him and hugging myself to him, I asked Eric, “Can I explain after our shower?”

Without answering, Eric turned me around as his fingers dug into my hair and clinically washed my body to rid it of the disgusting smell of smoke. Not a word was spoken until he’d dried me off and sat me down on the bed.  Eric didn’t sit down next to me. Instead, he hovered over me as impatience rolled off him and throughout the room. My nerves had shot up to the point that I was unsure if I’d be able to speak.

“Now that you no longer smell of smoke,” he said through clenched teeth, “tell me what you’ve been up to.”

“First, I want you to promise me that you’ll stay here and listen to what I have to say. Don’t go and…”

“Sookie,” he growled out impatiently. “Since the house seems to be standing, I want to know why you left and came back smelling of gasoline and smoke.”

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I stood and craned my neck so that I looked him in the eye. “I didn’t know that I was under a direct order that I couldn’t ever leave this fucking house,” I shouted and started to pace.  I didn’t get two steps before I was seized by my arms and turned around to see a sight I never wanted to see again.

“You know the danger that’s out there! It wasn’t too long ago that we were surrounded by a group of Weres during the day! Do you not remember how scared you were because I sure as fuck remember? I think about it every night that I leave you and we try to come up with a solution to kill this son of a bitch who’s sole mission is to kill us all. You know what they were planning, and it was so distressing that you couldn’t even speak about it. That’s what I’m trying to protect you from,” Eric said the last part quietly, sobering the mood in the room.

“From the moment I woke up with no memories, I have never doubted that,” I whispered as my fingers tried to smooth out the anger of his furrowed brows unsuccessfully. “I'm all right, Eric, I promise. I was never in any danger. Please, sit so I can talk to you. You’re…”

I didn’t know how to finish the sentence without further hurting or angering Eric.  I wasn’t scared that he’d hurt me, I never had been, but I was scared of his reaction. He was already mad, and he didn’t even know the half of it.

Eric sat down beside me on the bed a few inches away but didn’t reach for my hand. Instead, he sat stiffly with impatience. It was me that gripped his hand furiously before lacing our fingers together.

“I guess I should get on with it,” I said softly as I looked at his angry face. “I love you, Eric. I…”

Eric interrupted before I could go on. “I love you too, Sookie,” he stated before closing his eyes and exhaling. “ Just because I’m angry doesn’t mean that I love you any less. Nothing will ever make me stop loving you. Now _please_  tell me what happened today.”

“I can’t feel it,” I replied, trying to keep my lower lip from trembling and failing.

Unlacing our fingers, Eric put his arm around me and pulled me close until my front was to his side, and he dropped his cheek to rest on the top of my head.

“You make it very challenging for me to stay mad at you,” he said with a small amount of humor in his voice.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be made at me,” I responded back.

“Let me be the judge of that. Tell me what happened. Where did you go today? Did Quinn go with you?”  Giving me a squeeze he sent a burst of his love and reassurance.

Taking a deep breath, I let it out and rested my forehead against his chest. “Quinn didn’t go,” I said shaking my head and continued when I felt him stiffen. “Quinn didn’t even know I was gone until I, we got back.  Around ten, this morning Hauk woke me and asked me to come to his room. He had something important to tell me.”

“Something so important that you couldn’t take your bodyguard?” he growled.

“Yes. If Quinn had known, he would have tried to stop me. Us,” I added quickly. “Hauk had listened to the messages that came in from those who watch Marcus’s known houses and in one of those messages, they said that he was at one and his only security were two Weres. We felt that this was our only chance to kill Marcus without anyone getting hurt. I know you’ve all been trying to come up with a strategy to kill him and none of you get killed or hurt so badly that there would be months of recuperation time,” I explained.

“So you and Hauk decided it should be the two of you that killed Marcus?” he asked barely holding back the fury I could see bubbling in his eyes and felt undulating through me.

“I didn’t want you to get hurt and felt that this was the best and easiest way. Hauk promised that if there were any danger at all, we’d leave and come right back. He swore to protect me,” I tried to explain.

Pulling himself away, Eric stood with anger and sadness brimming in his eyes. “I swore to protect you the night I married and pledged myself to you. My vows to you mean everything to me and you carelessly threw them aside.”

“No!” I sobbed out. “No, Eric! It was nothing like that. I wanted to protect  _you_ , and Godric, Pam, and Hauk. You all are my family. The only family I have, and if you or they had gotten hurt or killed, I would be devastated.”

“And how do you think I would feel if you were hurt and I couldn’t get to you because you were far away during the day? Did you think of how it would feel for me if I was woken from my day rest to find you hurt and unable to get to you? Unable to save you?”

“I did!” I exclaimed, standing up and trying to move into his space only for him to step away.

“Yet you still decided to risk yourself,” he replied softly.

I wasn’t sure how our conversation had turned so terribly wrong. I never imagined it would be  _this_  bad. If I had, I would have stayed curled up in bed for the rest of the day.

I watched as Eric made his way to the door and started to put in his code.

Was he leaving?

“Eric?” I cried and watched him turn around at hearing my voice. “Where are you going?”

Looking at the keypad and then back at me, Eric’s body visibly tensed, but he walked back to the bed and sat without a word.

“You were going to leave,” I stated. Tears I couldn’t hold back streamed down my face as I observed him.

“I was going to leave to try to calm down before the situation became explosive, but I wasn’t going to leave without tell you why. Sookie, come here,” he said holding out his hand for me to take.

Quickly I moved into Eric’s arms and dissolved into a sobbing mess against his chest the instant his arms wrapped tightly around me.

Eric held me until my sobs subsided and my hiccups were few and far between before he spoke.  “Sookie, I understand why you did what you did today, and I don’t want you to feel as if you’re a prisoner never to see the sunlight. You don’t have to ask my permission for  _anything_. You never have and never will, but I need your help in protecting  _you_. I know I overreacted tonight. You were so nervous that your feelings almost made me twitch it was so strong in the bond and then to smell smoke and gasoline on you.” I felt his head shake against the top of my head. “ I cannot begin to explain to you how terrified I am of something happening to you again, but I don’t want you to have to be stuck inside all day just to appease my worry.  My worry about all the ways you could possibly get hurt is something I need to work through, and I’m trying, but when situations such as a vampire who could easily kill any of us arise, my protective instincts where you’re concerned are beyond compare.” He explained calmly in a soft voice.

“I understand. I really do Eric. I know how much it hurt you when I forgot you and everything else. I will do everything in my power to prevent you ever feeling that way again.” I tried to explain.

“You went out today to end Marcus because you were worried that your friends or I would get hurt or worse, and I understand, but you need to recognize that I can’t stand the thought of you being hurt let alone becoming hurt trying to protect me. I know Hauk would not intentionally lead you into a dangerous situation, but out of the two of us who do you think cares for your wellbeing and safety the most?”

“You. Always you,” I answered immediately. Quietly.

“Always,” he replied just as quietly. “I am sorry for my reaction.  Please tell me how you and Hauk… ended Marcus.”

“You can say kill. I killed him. I killed our enemy, and I’d do it again if I had to,” I stated pulling back to look him in the eye.

After telling Eric everything that I could remember of what happened from the moment Hauk woke me until I opened our bedroom door he was quiet, calm and contemplative.

“Next time, if there is a next time, please talk to me first if it’s at all possible.”

“I promise,” I vowed. I really hoped there was never a next time because after that fight or whatever the hell it was, I never wanted to experience anything remotely close it again.  “There was no opportunity to discuss this with you today, but we did not take the situation lightly. We planned and waited and listened to make sure that it wasn’t a trap and that we’d be safe. I wouldn’t have done it if I thought for one moment that I would have gotten hurt.”

“I know. You are brave, my wife. I despise that you felt you had to kill Marcus to keep us all safe, but I admire how you’re dealing with it. Hauk was right, I was born of a different time and had killed before I was made a vampire. We didn’t kill indiscriminately, but we did kill our enemies if we needed to. I’ve wanted to shield you from the ugliness of my world from the moment I met you, and I’ve failed.”

“Forever is a long time to shield me. It was bound to happen but you wanting to protect and shield me is one of the reasons I love you,” I replied.

“Your bravery and ability to adapt to anything are a couple of the reasons I love you so,” Eric answered with a  kiss to the top of my head. “Although we will all be happy that Marcus is no more, they will be disappointed that it wasn’t us to kill him. We love a good battle.”

“It wasn’t going to be a good battle,” I stated. “If it were there would have been a plan before now, and the deed would have been done.”

I felt Eric nod.

“What do you want to do now, my wife?” Eric asked as he stretched back onto the bed taking me with him.

“I want to go home. Back to Louisiana, if we can, and I want you all to myself for about month,” I replied lifting up on my elbow to look down at him.

“Hmmm. You are greedy, but I find that I can deny you nothing. What shall we do after you’ve had your way with me?”

“I want you to show me the world. I want to see what you experienced when you were human and as a vampire. I want to relive our honeymoon. I want to go places that you’ve never experienced and make new memories.”

“Sounds like a plan. How about we start now and I give you an experience you’re sure never to forget?” Eric said, flipping me on my back and removing my clothes.

“Perfect.”

 

**A/N: Eric and Sookie's story is almost over now that they've defeated the bad guy and will soon be traveling and making new memories. Don't worry though, I plan to write Lover's Amnesia and, at least, some of Lovers Always through Eric's point of view in Missing Lover. Plus I'll still be writing At That Moment, and I have my first ever all human story to write inspired by War on Everyone.**

 

 

 


	15. Going Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has not been beta'd. Sorry for any mistakes.

Waking to Eric shifting out from under me, I rubbed my eyes and looked to see Eric snatching up his phone and hissing down the line.

I couldn’t understand a word he said as he spoke in harsh whispers, but the one thing I did know was that he was extremely displeased.

“Eric…,” I called, reaching my hand out to land on his lower back.

Moving toward me, he spoke once more into his phone before throwing it on the nightstand.  It wasn’t but a moment before I was on my back with Eric’s weight on top of me and his lips crashing against mine. I was slightly taken aback by the swift change in mood but with Eric’s lips against mine and our tongues caressing I was instantly lost in him.

The moment my fingers tangled in Eric’s hair, he pulled back. I knew I had a confused look on my face from his back andforth. Why was this not progressing and stopping?

“Eric?” I questioned as his hand came up to cup my face and his fingers traced along my jaw. “Is everything alright?”

“I need to go to the other safe house,” he replied in a gruff voice. “Pam informed me that Godric has been on the phone since the moment he rose with Valken, and he’s very distressed. She’s unsure what about, but I think it has something to do with Nora.  There are only two things in the world that trouble Valken and we know Godric’s fine,” he explained.

“Valken knows it was Nora who helped kidnap Godric, right?” I asked as Eric pulled us up into a sitting position.

“He knows and has been saddened by it, but he knew Nora was deeply jealous of her Maker’s affection for Godric.  It was obvious that Nora wanted more from her Maker, but Valken never looked at her in that way.”

“In what way?” I asked, confused.

“Valken prefers men and had a long-standing relationship with Godric until he turned Nora. I never understood why he turned her, but after he had turned her, Valken left Godric’s side so that he could teach Nora how to be a vampire. He thought he’d be gone a decade if that, and he’s been away for over two hundred years.”

I could feel Eric’s confusion and how much he disliked what both Godric and Valken had been through for the last two hundred years.

“That’s a long time. They love each other?” I questioned.

“They do and for the last one hundred years, I witnessed Godric grow increasingly depressed. I don’t know why he didn’t call Valken back to him or go to him himself, but who am I to question his judgment. I knew nothing of love or what it’s like to have a Maker who loved me and treated me as an equal,” he answered leaving the bed. “I need to go and speak with Godric and Pam to let them know that Marcus is dead,” Eric said before going to the closet to get dressed.

“Will Thortin be there?” I asked, hoping that he would be gone but doubtful I’d be that lucky.

“Why? Do you want to come with me?” He asked as he sat on the bed to put his boots on.

“Yes, but not if it’s going to cause trouble,” I answered getting off the bed and headed for the bathroom.

“If you want to go then come with me. I can’t promise Thortin won’t be there, but I also don’t know how long I’ll be gone. Tomorrow night we should be able to leave and head back home with this news if Thortin is there he’ll be somewhat civil.”

Eric must have felt how happy his statement made me because one minute I was pulling on a pair of jeans and the next his hand swept my hair away and his lips were trailing down my neck.

“You’re happy,” he whispered, his cool breath caressing my ear.

“Yes,” I replied, turning around to kiss him. “I want you all to myself. I only got a couple of hours, and I feel asleep during a part of that.” I yawned, my body telling me I still needed to catch up on some much-needed sleep.

“I wouldn’t have let you sleep for long with your naked body sprawled on top of me.  Come with me. Pam will be happy to see you. She’s missed you more than she lets on, älskare,” Eric responded as he trailed his nose along the column of my neck.

“I feel guilty that she’s had to take on the brunt of my work while I first recovered from the accident and then from me getting my telepathy back.  From what you’ve told me, Pam and I were close, and although we’re close now, I know it’s not the same.  She had such high expectations that I would be more into fashion and like shopping than I was before.  Do most women like to shop as much as she does?” I asked, pulling away to slide on my shoes.

“I don’t think there is another being on this earth that likes to shop as much as Pam does, but yes, it seems most women like to shop. Before you would give into her whims but not often. You’ve never been one to shop so don’t feel bad. Pam was only trying to find a bright spot in what had happened. You didn’t see it, but she was hurting after you lost your memory.”

“No, I didn’t see it from Pam, but I caught glimpses of how much it hurt you,” I replied, stepping up and wrapping my arms around his trim waist and resting my head against his chest. Eric’s arms wrapped around me instantly and he placed a kiss on the top of my head.

“I was hurt,” he whispered against my hair. “I don’t know any being in existence who wouldn’t be saddened that the love of their life no longer remembered them and might still lose them. I was lucky that you are the woman that you are.”

“Eric,” I interrupted. “I know you don’t believe it, but you are not hard to love. I’d be an idiot not to fall in love with you again.  I wish you could see yourself the way I see you.” I tried to pull myself together as tears began to fill my eyes.

“Maybe one day,” he murmured with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

Squeezing me once before pulling back, Eric’s hand engulfed mine before leading us out of our room. He didn’t stop as we came to the living room where Mason, Charlie, and Quinn were sitting. Instead, he gave them a chin lift and continued until we were outside in the dark, humid night. Pulling me into his arms, Eric took off into the night’s sky without a word. I could tell now that we were set out to see Godric; he was more worried what had caused Godric’s distress.  At least, we knew that Valken was unharmed if he had been on the phone with Godric since he rose.

The safe houses were not far apart. At least not by flight. In no time at all Eric set us down and quickly walked us to the front door. I was surprised when he stopped abruptly and turned toward me, cupping my face with both of his large hands.  I watched as his eyes traced along my face before he slowly lowered his head until his forehead was resting against mine.  We were quiet as we stood there with our eyes locked onto each others. After only a couple of moments, Eric lightly caressed his lips against mine before he quietly said thank you and took my hand in his.

I wanted to question why he was thanking me, but the second we stepped inside Pam was upon us and ushering Eric to the staircase that led to the area that I assumed was their daytime resting places.

“Pam, stay with Sookie while I speak to Godric. We shouldn’t be long,” Eric said before descending the stairs and out of sight.

“Do you know what’s happening?” Pam and I both questioned at the same time and then busted out laughing.

Once I finally had control over myself, Pam led me into the living room where we sat on the couch with both of our gazes toward the staircase.

“Is Thortin here,” I whispered to Pam, who still had her eyes on the staircase.

“No, he left to go feed. He should be back shortly, though. I can’t wait until all this is over and I don’t have to see his ugly face every night.”

“You remember the other night when I was here?” I asked in a whisper.

“Of course, I do. Everything is in the vault,” Pam replied tapping her temple, “and it was just the other night.”

“Right, well the next night you called me because Eric had muted our bond, he wasn’t gone long that night, and when he got home he was…”

“Ravenous for your heavenly body?”  She questioned with a quirked up eyebrow.

“You could say that.  What happened that night?”

“If I tell you what happened here will you tell me what happened with my Master,” Pam asked playfully.

“You know I won’t. Was it to do with Thortin?” I couldn’t think of anything else and knew how upset Eric had been when I’d been there before.

“Why haven’t you asked Eric?” Pam questioned.

“Because we were busy talking and doing  _other_  things. Will you tell me?”

Throwing her hand out in dismissal she answered. “The second Eric walked into the house the air went electric with the tension between him and Thortin.  We could all feel it, but Thortin seemed to be getting off on it. He knew after the night before if he said one word about you, Eric would not be able to hold back no matter that he supplied us with our safe houses. It was not smart of him with Eric being so much older, but he was itching for a fight. If this had been Louisiana, Eric would have probably killed him, but since were in Texas he couldn’t take that chance.  Although I do believe Stan wouldn’t have cared if an asshole like Thortin went missing from his state.

“Thortin made a crude statement about you and Eric erupted. It was quite the sight to see although it only lasted a few minutes.  You should see the office,” Pam said once again shaking her head, but this time with a smile on her face. “There’s not a piece of furniture in there that isn’t broke.”

“Why?”

“Bloodlust. He was so close to bloodlust. Personally, I think he protects you a little too much,” Pam said with a shrug. “If you’re going to be around for the next… forever. He can’t protect from the world without sheltering you to the point of hinderance, and I know he doesn’t want to do that to you.  It’s a battle I know he fights. He wants so desperately to protect you yet let you live your life with ease.  Something that will be so much easier when we don’t have a mad vampire out to kill us on our hands.”

“We don’t have to worry about that any longer,” Eric called as he came up the stairs.  After making his way over to the couch, he plucked me up before he sat down next to Pam and sat me on his lap.

“What… When?” Pam looked at Eric to Godric and back to Eric.

I watched as Godric stood with his shoulder against the wall with his full attention on Eric. I tried to find any trace that he was in distress but found none.  Although I wasn’t surprised, I couldn’t find anything.  If I couldn’t feel Eric’s emotions most of the time, I wouldn’t be able to tell he was anything but bored when we were around others. I knew I wouldn’t be able to see anything from Godric unless he wanted us to.

“Sookie was quite busy today while we were all in our day rest.  Weren’t you, Lover?” Eric said in an unhappy tone but squeezed his arms that were around me. “Why don’t you tell them what happened?”

Taking a deep breath, I sat up and squared my shoulders as I told Godric and Pam about what had happened that day from the time I woke up until I arrived back at the safe house. I didn’t think they needed to know what happened after Eric found out. It was obvious to everyone that he wasn’t exactly happy with what Hauk and I had done, but as I retold my story, I could feel that he was also proud of me. Even though he was proud, I knew that he didn’t want me to make it an everyday occurrence.  Which I would not!

“My, my Sookie, I’m surprised. Good for you and Hauk,” Pam praised me with a smirk on her face. “Now we can get the hell out of this shithole. If I had known that you were an option...”

Pam’s words abruptly stopped from the fierce growl that emanated from deep in Eric’s chest. Not a word was spoken until we all heard Godric clear his voice, getting all of our attention since we all knew he didn’t need to clear his voice,  _ever_.

“We are all very appreciative of what you have done for us, Sookie. You and Hauk. You both risked a lot to make us all safe and for that, I’ll always be grateful.  Do you know around when you set the house on fire?” Godric asked what I thought was a strange question.

“Um… maybe around 4:30? I’m sorry. I don’t know exactly. Maybe if you ask Hauk he’d know since you all have that internal clock thing,” I answered.

“Yes, I’ll do that. He should know with his internal clock thing,” Godric replied with a smirk. “Thank you, Sookie.”

“Is everything alright with you and Valken,” I asked Godric and got another squeeze of Eric’s arms. This time longer.

“Yes, in a way. It seems that Nora died sometime during our day rest. Unfortunately, for Valken, it was night where he was, and he felt her pain and their bond break. It will take him a while to recover fully from her death and betrayal. I will be leaving first thing tomorrow night to go to him.”

“I hope you being there will help.”

“It will. I can give him more of my strength the closer I am,” Godric stated.

“Do you know what happened to Nora?” I asked, first looking at Godric and then turning to Eric.

“Min älskade, although we are not sure we think that Nora may have been in the house with Marcus. It would make sense since they were working so closely together, but we will never know unless someone confirms that they saw her enter the house. If they had, it would have been reported, and Hauk would have known through their message.”

“So I killed Nora too?” I questioned with a whisper. “I caused the pain that Valken is going through. What Godric is going through?”

“We can’t know that for sure, but…”

“No,” I said, interrupting him.

“Sookie,” Godric said kneeling in front of Eric and me. “Nora betrayed her Maker and me, but Valken would never have been able to end her, and because I love my child, I could never have killed his child knowing the pain he would endure. If,  _if_ , you did have anything to do with Nora’s end then you did us a favor.”

“That’s…”

“How it is. Do not worry about us. We are all safe now because of you and once again I will be reunited with my child,” Godric stated with such intensity that I had to believe his words were true. “Okay?”

I could only nod my head yes.

“Does that mean we can go back to Louisiana?” Pam asked with a smile in her voice.

“Yes, we will also be leaving tomorrow night. Sookie and I will be staying in Shreveport while we make our travel arrangements and spending some much needed time alone. You will need to finalize the sale of Fangtasia and then you may open your boutique, shop or whatever you want to do once it is done,” Eric explained.

“Alone time?” Pam questioned. “You two are going on the honeymoon of honeymoon’s. Why do you need to have alone time when that’s exactly what you’ll have when traveling?”

“Sookie wants to go back to Shreveport and…  _enjoy_  some time there before we leave.”

Pam was quiet for a few moments before she finally spoke, “If we’re leaving tomorrow then I need to start packing. Do you wish for me to make our travel arrangements?”

“We’ll be driving back with Charlie. You are more than welcome to join us,” Eric said as he stood with me still in his arms before sitting me down on my feet.

Shaking her head, Pam replied, “No, I don’t know how you do it, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to be stuck in a car for any length of time with Charlie.  He talks too much, among other things.” Switching her attention to Godric Pam asked him, “What about Mason?”

“Mason can make his own decisions. Like I said before, I’m leaving tomorrow night, and I don’t know when I’ll be back. If Mason and Hauk decide that they want to make something of what they’ve found together than he’s free to do what he wants. I’m not going to ask him to come with me or wait around for orders from me.”

“Do you think they are that serious?” Pam asked, sidling up to Godric.

“I think it’s getting pretty serious, but I don’t know what Hauk or Mason want.”

“You two and your gossip,” Eric chided.  “Sookie and I are going to go back to our safe house. We will inform Hauk, Quinn,Charlie, and Mason that we will be leaving tomorrow. Godric good luck in your travels and be happy. I don’t want to see you miserable like you have been for the last one hundred years. Now is your chance.” Giving Godric a deep bow, I watched as Eric pulled Pam close and kissed her forehead before he murmured, “Thank you for coming when Sookie needed you. We’ll see you at home.”

“Goodbye, Godric, it was nice meeting you again. Hopefully, the next time I see you it will be under better circumstances.” I pulled away from Eric and lightly hugged Godric. “Thank you for helping Eric when we needed you,” I whispered. “I don’t know what would have happened to him if you hadn’t.”

I was sure Godric understand I was talking about when Eric had asked him to take care of his maker for him.

“It was my pleasure,” Godric replied, only then to wrap his arms around me and give me a quick hug. “Go back to your Bonded now,” he said amused. “We vampires are possessive creatures.”

It wasn’t until we were outside and I was in Eric’s arms did I question Godric’s words.

“Was it wrong that I hugged Godric?” I asked after wrapping me in his arms to take off.

“Normally, yes, but I understand why you did it. So do Godric and Pam.  I will forever be in debt to him for taking care of my Maker. We wouldn’t be where we are now and I wouldn’t have you… I don’t even want to imagine what would have happened if Appius would have found you. Learned that you were the one making me happy.

“But you can’t go around hugging vampires,” he chuckled as we took off once again into the night.

“I should probably warn you then I might have to hug Pam and Hauk before we leave to go travel.  Although I’m excited to see the world with you, I’ll miss them.”

“After that no more hugging vampires that are not your bonded and pledged. Will that work for you?”

“You are the only one that I want to hug,” I said with a kiss to his neck.

“Good.”

“So we’re going home?”

“We’re going home. It’s time to give you everything your heart desires,” Eric answered as he landed.

“You already have.”

~The End~

 

This is the end of Lovers Always. There might be one or two outtakes of Eric and Sookie’s travels in the future but, for now, know that they have their happily ever after and are traveling the world happy and loving each other.

Now I’ll be concentrating on writing [At That Moment](http://www.iamgyllene.com/at-that-moment/), Missing Lover (Eric’s pov of Lover’s Amnesia) and hopefully my first all human cop story inspired by pictures from War on Everyone.  I keep going back and forth on whether or not I should write it was an original story or as fanfiction.  Hopefully, I’ll figure it out soon. :)


End file.
